Indian Epics by Reid

Time never stops, so manage it! Managing time was never my strong suit coming into college, but I have gotten better over the years. Out of the articles I read, my favorite was the one about the myth of "too busy."  Being "too busy" to do things was something I used to always tell myself until I worked my internship. In the work world, you weren't really allowed to be "too busy," so the article really resonated with me when it talked about cutting out the unnecessary time wasters out of your life. While working multiple projects, it quickly became clear that time management was a must. I was able to apply those skills to my classes last semester as I was taking both in-person and online classes. Finding the right balance was hard at first, but I ended up setting dedicated times for online classes as if I was taking them in-person. I'm hoping that can apply this semester as well since I'm once again split 50/50 with in-person and online clas...

Technology is the future! Coming from someone that's never blogged before, but is an avid reader of blogs, this class is an awesome introduction to the behind the scenes of the whole thing. Now where I'd normally stick to reading car and technology blogs, this will help me expand my horizons. With the skills learned from technology in this class, I'm sure I'll be able to transfer them to life outside of class. Who knows, I may even start my own blog! The biggest skill I want to be able to learn is making an attractive portfolio format. I'll learn this through all the formatting tricks we learn throughout the semester. The one tech tip that has helped me so far is that if you open the assignment in one window and your blog in another, pres your Windows key and the right arrow key at the same time. It'll split your screen perfectly in half with each window so you can have them both up!

Writing excites me the most Coming into this class, I had no idea what to expect. I had only heard that there was lots of writing and lots of reading, but that you could be as creative as you want. After seeing how this class is structured, I'm very excited about the storytelling aspect of class. Having read some previous storybooks, I can see that there really is no limit on our creativity as long as we are able to tie it back to the stories we read. I love writing, and reading other people's stories, so being able to comment on what other people put together will be a great experience. For extra credit, I'm looking forward the most to learning how to make a better looking blog along with the biographical writing. This class is nothing like any other classes I've taken in terms of structure, and that excites me.

Growth vs Fixed Mindset After listening to the TED talk, I realized I had never really considered the idea of a growth mindset. I knew the general ideas talked about, but I didn't realize there was a term for it, let a lone a term full of studies behind it. In my elementary school, I remember being given tests that were purposefully too hard for us. Little did I know this was a growth mindset test. Even in a class I've taken at OU, we were never given failing grades (grades below a 50%). To the professor, it was more of a fair assessment that he could see we were trying and grasping some of the concepts even if we didn't quite have a hold on the whole thing. I see this is being extremely beneficial. The most I've ever learned has been from being challenged. Over the summer, I had my first internship doing IT work in a field I had never really experienced before. I was doing data management for a private oil and gas company that had me working projects I had zero e...

Myself and Callie hiking in Arkansas Hey everyone! It's the final stretch (for me at least). This is my last semester before graduating here at OU, and I think it's awesome we get to write and read these blogs to get to know each other. I'm majoring in MIS and will be moving to an IT consulting job after graduation. I'll be staying local while working out of OKC. Easily the biggest thing to know about me is my love for cars. Ever since I was a kid collecting Hot Wheels, I've never stopped being a car guy. Now that I'm getting the opportunities to do so, I've graduated from Hot Wheels to real cars! I've currently got two: my 2015 Mustang is my daily driver, and I'm working on restoring a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo (both pictured below). The Porsche is a huge undertaking for me as it's my learning platform for mechanical skills. While I've done work on cars here and there, I've never taken on a full project like this. My 2015 Mustang ...

Storybook 1: Ganesha Loves his Food While I am familiar with Ganesha by name, I had never gone into much research about him. I was mostly captured by the intro as it lead me to see each of the stories as light-hearted and joyous. Ganesha is described as helping people think about to take things as they come and go with the flow. On top of all this, I'm reading this while craving sugary sweets, and Ganesha's hunger for them resonates especially well with me. As for reading the stories, the layout was very easy to navigate and read. Most of the stories were dialogue heavy, and the author made it very easy to see who was talking even when there were several characters. The choice of characters helped make it more fun to read. I never would've thought about Ganesha having Thanksgiving dinner with Cardi B. Storybook 2:   Tales of Tails Being an animal lover, this was an easy choice. I had never read any Indian animal stories before now, but after reading the ones provided...

Half Dome in Yosemite National Park In the US, my favorite place by far to visit is Yosemite National Park. While I've only visited it once, I plan to visit again this summer and spend more than just half a day there. Growing up in Arkansas, I've always appreciated nature, but seeing the sights of Yosemite blows all of Arkansas' beauty out of the water. After reading other blog posts, I see I'm not alone in enjoying the beauty of national parks, and even not alone in loving Yosemite! I can't wait to go back and spend a few days discovering as many trails as I can. Not too far of a drive from Yosemite is Lake Tahoe, just outside of Reno. After spending time hiking, it's an amazing place to just come and relax out on the water or on any of the beaches it offers. It's going to be an amazing trip that I've been looking forward to all year. Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe