I'll Just Listen

You ever had a total stranger tell you their life story? It happens to me a lot. Most recently, at Walmart in the men's underwear aisle. There I was, by myself, looking for underwear for my growing son, and along comes a gentleman in his late 50's. He decides to give me advice on what kind of underwear my son might find comfortable. Now, I didn't ask for advice, nor did I start the conversation. He seemed genuine so I just let him speak and I listened. The conversation went from underwear, to learning he's originally from the east coast, to where he met his wife, to how he got into his profession (contractor), to the meaning of the tattoos on his body, to his relationship with his siblings. This conversation lasted about 45 minutes with us still standing in the men's underwear aisle.

This happens to me all the time. I'm not sure why people feel the need to tell me their life story. Most of these people end up telling me at the end, "I don't know why I just told you all of that." But I don't mind. I listen because maybe they don't have anyone else to talk to. I listen because maybe it's part of their healing process and they just need to tell their life story to a random stranger.

Maybe one day I'll understand why total strangers like to tell me their life stories. But until then, I'll just keep listening with compassion and understanding.

No More Bonus Quizzes for Me!

Finally! It's over! I took the last of the bonus quizzes - BQ12 and BQ13. It took me at least 45 minutes to an hour to complete both quizzes on paper. And I studied. I printed out the practice guide and wrote down all my answers because I believe in muscle memory; if I hand write my answers, the more likely I'll be able to recall them.

BQ12 reminded me of BQ1 with mostly all fill in the blanks. BQ13 is where you needed to explain to the Hillbillies your answers, like most of the bonus quizzes we've had. I was provided with a screenshot of an Excel sheet to use as reference for the quizzes. It's just a screenshot, not actual Excel, so you won't be able to manipulate the sheet or anything like that.

The best tip I can give is to use the practice guide provided and write down your answers since this quiz is on paper. When the guide says to practice an action, please open the Excel program and practice because there are questions that ask what the process is or what's the step in the process. Also, know how to use PEMDAS and when to use absolute cell references. And lastly, there are questions that ask about functions. All the functions in the practice guide will be used (HINT: look at questions 3, 19-23). The one that I had the most trouble with was the SUMIF function. I already know I got that one miserably wrong.

Don't stress too much about these quizzes, as they are BONUS. The way I look at it is, anything I got correct is a plus. It was better to try to get bonus points than not try at all. I'm just glad it's over. No more bonus quizzes for me!

The Holidays are Here!

With the holiday season starting, so do the parties and get togethers. And I am probably one of the few people who aren't looking forward to any of that. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I just don't like having to go parties and get togethers. Family parties are fine, I don't have a problem with those. It's the parties like company parties and parties where I don't know many people. I prefer not to "people" when I don't have to. So, I will think of any excuse to get out of going. If I can't get out of going, you'll find me in the corner just people watching. It's a bonus if I have food to eat while people watching.

"But it's the way we've always done it"

If there is one phrase that irritates me most at work it is, "but it's the way we've always done it." I can't tell you how many times I've been told that phrase. Just because you've always done something a certain way, it doesn't make it right. My favorite question to ask people is "why?". Explain to me why. If you can't explain to me the "why" behind the process, and you tell me because "that's the way it's always been done", it just shows me that you don't truly understand what you're doing. And I recognize that you're just doing what you were trained to do, going through the motions that you were taught because "that's the way it's always been done." But sometimes the way something has always been done is actually in violation of an internal control which could cost the company tens of thousands of dollars. But I digress.

 

I love what I do, I just get irritated when someone tells me "but it's the way we've always done it."

Becoming My Mother

The older I get, the more I begin to understand my mother. While growing up, I always thought that she was so strict and that I didn't get to do anything I wanted to do (typical teenager). Being a rebellious teen, she gave me space to grow and yet still guided me along my path making sure I didn't veer too far off. As I grew into a young adult, I still remember the first time I said, "Mom, you were right." And the older I get, the more I look back and try to put myself in her shoes so I can understand why she did the things she did. Now as a mother, I find myself becoming like her; for example, in the things I tell my kids, like " 'Not me' doesn't live in this house" when they're in trouble. 

You know, our mother-daughter relationship has it's ups and downs. Sometimes we argue, sometimes we're good friends, but at the end of the day, she'll always be my mom. I understand the love she has for me because I have the same love for my kids. And I know no matter what, nothing will change that; not being a bratty teen or a selfish young adult. Though it may be difficult to show sometimes, the love is always there.

I'm All About Shortcut Keys

If there is one thing my colleagues from past to present know about me, it's that I hate using my mouse when I work. I don't want to touch it if I don't have to. If there is a shortcut key, I want to learn about it; anything to minimize the amount of clicking I have to do with a mouse. To me, having to move my right hand back and forth from the mouse to the keyboard isn't an efficient way of getting work done. It drives me crazy when I need to train someone that uses their mouse for everything. What takes them four clicks to accomplish, I can do it with two keys. But I digress. Maybe I'm just impatient.

Separate Accounts

Story time! At the beginning of this semester, during one of the first meetings with Mr. Wu via WebEx, he did his usual share your screen, and made me click here and there. During this process, we found that my school One Drive and my personal One Drive were having issues coexisting together on my laptop. When opening a word document or excel spreadsheet, the account would always default to my personal Microsoft account and not my school account. So, I would need to logout of my personal Microsoft account and login to my school Microsoft account. I was a frustrated mess trying to figure out what was going on. Me being me (a.k.a. lazy), I wasn't going to logout and login every time I needed to use Word or Excel for school. I knew there had to be a solution.

So to ease my frustrations, I figured, why not just create another user account on my laptop just for school. And that's what I did. Problem solved! So now I have my personal user account, which naturally is the admin account, and my school user account on my laptop. Having two separate user accounts is so convenient - for me anyways.

Busy Bee

I honestly don't know how I keep my life together sometimes. Having to keep track of my work schedule, school schedule PLUS my kids' school and extracurricular activities, it's amazing I'm not running around like a chicken without a head. Thank goodness for Outlook's calendar. I can have my personal, work and school calendars all in one place, color coded by calendar type, and set reminders so I don't forget upcoming appointments and meetings. I appreciate that I can schedule things months, even years, in advance. I am connected to my calendar on my phone, on my personal laptop, and on my PC for work. I'd be lost without my calendar.

Two Down, One to Go!

Pass MO-100 ✅

Pass MO-200 ✅

On to MO-300!

But first, let me take a pause. To breath. To relax. To shift my focus to something else. We all need a little break sometimes.

MO-100

Well it's over folks. Passed the MO-100 exam. I didn't get a perfect score, but I still passed. I must say, the exam is similar to what is presented in the LabSims. Similar, not exact, in the sense where you're expected to know what to do without much guidance, AND you don't get to see which sections you got wrong in the end or the correct answers. It just shows your score and whether you passed or not.

To be honest, the first section of my exam, I was really discouraged because I felt like I didn't know 4 out of 5 things it was asking me to do. And in a later section, there was one part where it was asking me to insert a shape, it gave me the name of the shape, but I couldn't find it for the life of me. Looking back, I was probably looking in the wrong area altogether, but I tried my best.

Three things I learned while preparing for and taking the exam:

1. Read each section CAREFULLY. Key words are used so you know what to look for and where it could possibly be.

2. Don't waste your time on one section. I tried really hard to find the shape it wanted but realized time was counting down and I couldn't waste anymore time. So I decided to give it my best guess answer, and just keep moving on. 

3. If you feel like you're not ready, it's ok. If you don't do well on the exam the first time, it's ok. You CAN retake the exam if needed.

And lastly, if you need help or want tips, I am more than happy to help where I can. 😊

I know each and every one of us will pass these exams and earn the MOS Associate certificate.

We can do it!

Why Wasn't This Available When I Was Younger?

Working through the Word lessons in LabSim, I think to myself, why wasn't this available when I was younger? Most of it is formatting and how to make things look pretty in a word document. Honestly, I could've used the References ribbon in middle school when teachers were issuing research papers in 7th grade (which was many, many, MANY moons ago). Who knew you could auto-populate your references for your works cited page? Who knew that word could store sources from previous papers you wrote? Who knew you could change from APA to MLA formats with the click of a button? Who knew you could create a table of contents page without having to format it yourself? Clearly this is all new to me - my mind is blown. 

Needless to say, I'm teaching my kids all these tricks when it's their turn to start writing papers. I won't have them suffer like I did when I was younger - typing everything manually. All they have to do is click here and click there, and voila! Magic! 

Bonus Quiz Thoughts

After getting through this Bonus Quiz 2 today, I learned a few things about myself. 

1. I should read the question being asked and find key words to pick out to fully understand what is being asked.

2. I should keep my answers short and not over explain on one topic.

3. It's a bonus quiz so don't stress about it. If I get a zero, no harm done. But if I get a half point or a full point, then cool.

I'll be better prepared for the upcoming bonus quizzes. Hopefully.

Day One - Here We Go!

Welp! Here we are, IS101 Fall 2022. Today's first class was interesting to say the least. I found Mr. Wu's sense of sarcastic humor quit refreshing. It definitely adds a little spice to what could possibly be a rather boring class. Personally, I chose an in person class for this subject as I know I don't do well in remote and online learning environments for two reasons: 1) I am impatient and like instant gratification, and being in class gives me just that - ask a question and immediately get an answer, and 2) I like being physically around my peers, learning from them and being able to collaborate with them. 

With Mr. Wu's guidance and straightforward attitude, I'm sure we'll all do well in this class. He'll keep us on track and call us out if we're not; it's just tough love. Like he says, he's not our daddy, but he sure calls us out on our mess like he is! 😂