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Archive for September, 2006

Lazy Day

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

I heard from the person that I ordered the Ethics book from through Amazon and she shipped the book this week. I was hoping that I would have the book by now, because my mother is having knee replacement surgery on Monday. I wanted to start the reading while waiting at the hospital. There will be lots of time to read!

Today (Saturday), we hope to do a few things around the house, because I am caught up on student paper-grading and I have no papers to write for my own class at NCU, as I have not read the text. We plan to hang some curtains that we took down from the family room in the bedroom. We live off the main road, and so we have never had any window coverings at all on some of our windows. I know that when we lived in town, we definitely had curtains and blinds. But out here, unless you know our house is here in the woods, well, you just would not see it.

We also have some house chores to do. The kids are not coming home this weekend, so it is just me and husband. So far, we have read the paper, watched a little TV, and I checked my students’ postings online. I also worked on a little scarf I am knitting and found another really cute crochet scarf pattern on the web to try for my next project.  

I love a lazy day at home! I don’t get very many of them, and it is wonderful to take a little breather from writing and grading and reading.

MGT 5031: Assignment #3 – Success!

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

This morning, I nervously signed on to my student web page…and peeked at the assignments page…and there it was…my grade for Assignment#3:

Vital Signs: Management in the Biotech Industry….100%!

Here are Dr. Crake’s comments:

Outstanding work Cindy! You have provided a very well developed discussion of the current management of the biotech industry, together with an excellent discussion of the challenges and opportunities of the industry. Exceptional insight into the possible future management of the industry. Excellent structure with strong line of argument. Beautifully written and presented. Excellent research. Impressive work!

I had issues with finding enough peer-reviewed articles for this assignment. I think that online library databases such as EBSCOHost do not have current (as in this month or last month) journals. It seems like many of the journals are at least six months to a year old. This particular assignment required current information and this was a struggle to find.I am proud of the finished product. My final modification included the use of level three headings in one section. I had struggled with clarity on that particular section of the paper and the headings made a difference.

All in all, what makes me so very happy with Dr. Crake’s remarks is the statement: “Beautifully written and very well presented.”

Thank you, Dr. Crake for making my day!

New Course: MGT5019 Ethics in Business

Saturday, September 9th, 2006

I am officially enrolled in my second course at NCU: MGT5019 Ethics in Business, with Dr. Charles Chrzanowski as Mentor. Dr. Chrzanowski’s bio includes: J.D.- Law, University of Bridgeport School of Law; B.S.-Law Enforcement Administration, University of New Haven; A.S.-Mechanical Engineering, Norwalk State Technical School. He has the course discussion forum set up with one folder per week. I am not sure if this means he is expecting weekly posts or not.

The course has eight assignments, and includes article reviews, case studies, a final project paper and a “journal.” There will be a lot of writing in this course, both related to the readings as well as reflective or personal application. Our text is:

Carroll, Archie B. & Ann K. Buchholtz (2003): Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Mangement (5th ed.). Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing. ISBN 0-324-11495-8

A few days ago I posted in the Learners forum looking for this text, but last night I found it pretty cheap on Amazon…..$6.79 including shipping. The book retails new for $132.95. I think that is a pretty sweet deal.

I plan to turn in my final paper from MGT5031 today. But time is getting away from me, as we are supposed to go to the Big City to see our daughter and pick up two recliners that her grandparents let her use. She does not have room for them, as she just got new living room furniture. I hope Husband will feel like riding to the Big City with me to get the chairs. It will be like a 2-hr date with my sweetheart.

My responsibilities as a mother, sweetheart, and employee have not changed. Going to school is easy. Going to school while life continues to happen is not!

  

Unfilled Request

Friday, September 8th, 2006

I received the following polite note back from the Librarian:

Cynthia, we received your request for the article below. Unfortunately, we could not find a lending institution that would provide the article. There are other options to obtain the article. You can check your local public, college or university library to see if it owns the journal, or if it can obtain the article through its interlibrary loan service. You might also try purchasing the article directly from the publisher. Let us know if you have any questions.

This particular article looked very promising from the abstract. I am disappointed. I found one outside Library (online) that I could get the article, but I would have to pay $30 to access the site.

So tonight, I am reviewing my paper and hope to turn it in tonight or tomorrow. 

…without the article as a source.

My Proofreaders & etc.

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

I finished Assignment #3 on Monday, Labor Day. Today is Wednesday and my two proofreaders have been busy – too busy to read my paper. Hmmm, maybe I should put a dollar bill or a candy bar between the pages or something.

Well, I can’t say that is the only reason that I have not turned it in yet. I requested an interlibrary loan of an article, and I have not gotten it yet. It is the first time that I tried the loan of a document. There was a link at the bottom of the EBSCO article. I thought that the article would be delivered “immediately” and electronically. Such is the purpose of an online library, right? I made the request on the 2nd and today is the 6th. How long does it take? Based on the abstract, I think that it would add to my paper, but I am SOOOO ready to turn it in! I guess I will send another note to the librarian and ask.

Drum roll, please. I am a member of our Hunting Club at work (the company owns a lot of land and the employees rent the hunting rights to certain tracts). We had a meeting this afternoon, and I am no longer “just” a member, I am an “elected officer.” I was elected to the audit committee for a three year term. Now, that is impressive, isn’t it! Now, I am not really sure what the audit committee does, but I supppose I will find out soon….

So far, so good

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love to write. I enjoy the art of making myself understood through words and their rhythms. There is a permanence and a peacefulness in making my mark on the page.

But – I don’t like to write papers! I am confined to the assignment guidelines and cannot “just write.” In the case of Assignment #3 (Modern and Future Management), I have the page in the syllabus tacked up on my desk, highlighted with green. “Stay focused” – “stay on topic” it says to me every time I look up and see that green.

I think I am a little brain-fried right now because I have been working on my paper almost all day. I spent most of the morning scratching through and eliminating some of my topical ideas (aerospace, internet, satellite TV, telecoms, nuclear medicine, etc.) and narrowing down to one subject. I think it will work for this paper and I have been researching and re-reading Wren through and through to create a backbone for the paper. The paper is skeleton-y and outline-y right now…but words are there on the page in black and white.

The problem is finding current and peer-reviewed articles on “new” industries which have emerged in the past 5 to 20 years. Typically, scholarly papers look backward and analyze, they don’t seem to look at today and analyze. Of course, it is easier for academia to comment on “historical facts.” For industries which are current, many of the sources are current, too, such as magazines. I have been able to find a few peer-reviewed articles and I am hoping that will “work” for Dr. C.

My sweet husband has been very supportive and encouraging all day, bringing me ice cream (with three cheeries on top) and making supper (chicken fingers and fries). He even has stopped a number of times to listen to me as I read a passage that needs some turn of the words to make it clear and concise. He is my proofreader and critic and I grab him and read to him. He doesn’t even complain about it ! The puppies keep checking on me and asking if I want to play or sing, just take my pick.

So life goes on here in the country; me stuck at my desk wrestling with Wren and writing my paper. So far, so good.