top greatest hits:)

When a person murders another person, everyone is in an uproar. They want the murderer to get what they deserve, be punished similarly, etc. but how do we arrive at these conclusions? Do we not all have a subconscious set of values and morals that we hold others accountable to? Well, we do. That is quite obvious in the way people treat others who are seen as wrongdoers. This semester in Honors Forum, we learned many valuable lessons and life values which we can take into the real world once we’ve moved on from UNA, and while we’re still here as well. Values are good. And if they come in conflict with each other you've got some tough decisions ahead of you.

 ----------------------//------------------------------//-------------------------

Every employer has values which he/she looks for, but these are some of the basics that most everyone likes:

1.      know as much about the company as possible

2.      RESPECT

3.      being on time

4.      Keeping a good facebook page (no icky pics, iffy status posts, nothing illegal, etc.)

5.      good ideas

6.      extracurriculars relevant to application and personal interests

Always be involved in activities; you'll get experience and have a better grasp of what your likes and dislikes are, and will have good things to put on your resume. Having good connections is always a plus. Also, in the business world, perception equals reality; how the consumer perceives your business affects how your business acts.

----------------------//-----------------------------//---------------------------

What you loved in your childhood is the key to happiness in adult life. Your childhood makes the base of everything you end up being; so wouldn't it make sense that the things you loved as a child will be most similar to the things that you will love as an adult. Like, if your favorite thing was to have tea parties for your dolls, maybe catering or planning events would be the best thing for you. When you're deciding your future, you need to be sure to have self-principles developed. You want a strong moral foundation so you can make good choices for yourself. Also, you should start saving up money so when you decide to settle down and get married you'll have back-up funds should any disaster occur.

--------------------//------------------------------//----------------------------

Study Abroad is a great experience to have, and one should try as hard as one can to go study abroad in whatever country interests them. The College of Business has a great program which takes students to China, and there are scholarships available. There’s also the Magellan program, in which students can go to a multitude of different countries, such as Puerto Rico, Spain, and Germany.

--------------------//-----------------------------//-----------------------------

The medical field is not like TV shows where it's all glamorous; you need to think about the reality of it when making the choice of whether or not to enter the medical field. Here are some pros and cons given to us by Dr. Wesley Deselle concerning the medical profession.

PROS

· satisfying work

· contribute to community

· monetary reimbursement

CONS

· time

· initial debt

· sacrifice of relationships

One has to keep in mind human values; the ones mentioned by Dr. Deselle can be applied to any profession, not just the medical:

· mentorship

· perserverance

· trust

------------------//--------------------------------//----------------------------

Values are needed in every profession, even commercial farming. One can try to grow crops based on price, but one must also attempt to grow crops which are needed in the community. Don’t be selfish and greedy.

-----------------//--------------------------------//-----------------------------

Vera verum va vera causea: do the right thing the right way for the right reason. Water boils at 212°, not 211°. The latter is close, but doesn’t quite get the job done. So don’t go half way, or even almost all the way. If something is worth being done, it’s worth being done right. Also, planning is a big part of life, and so many people these days just don't think about the future in that kind of mindset.

----------------//--------------------------------//------------------------------

At Bank Independent, they consider five words when running their business, and those five words are: people, community, strength, service, and convenience. Those are their values, and I suppose they are good ones. The president also says that they play by the rules, and do their best to be as fair as possible.

----------------//--------------------------------//------------------------------

Keep track of where you are and where you're heading. "Keep your guard up" and don't get lost in the world of secularism. If you truly want to be happy in life, go outside your comfort zone. If you play it safe and only do what is comfortable, then are you really living? If you're gonna go for the challenge, you need to have backbone to do what is right. Don't let others talk you into doing something you know isn't right. Everyone wants to be this awesome crime solver who puts nasty criminals behind bars and save peoples' lives. That's possible. But there's always a bad part to every job. If there's no bad you can't properly appreciate the good. Of course it's good that cruel humans are put in prison, but life isn't black and white. How do you know if the sentence is too harsh, or not harsh enough? Being a judge must be incredibly hard. Life is full of decisions and choices. The hard part is picking the right ones.

 -------------//----------------------------------//------------------------------

Today’s school system is hurting kids who are interested in career fields that need strong math (and science) skills, such engineering, computer programming, etc. The CIS field is seriously in need of qualified people for work, and the jobs are only being filled because of foreign employees. So what can we do? Isn’t education something that’s supposed to be very important to us? So many college students want to major in secondary education; I don’t see how kids can be doing so horribly in their studies with so many people out there who want to teach them. We need to get it in gear.

                                                            -aly <3

sound familiar?

this week's speaker, Mr. William Harget, the CEO of Houston Exploration, was eerily similar to last week's speaker, Mr. Pierce.

----------------------//--------------------------------//------------------------

there are certain values that employees should have to stay employed and to get better job opportunities. like being on time. stay in the loop; if you don't know what's going on you aren't going to get anywhere. be professional. show that you know what you're doing.

---------------------//--------------------------------//-------------------------

perception equals reality in the business world. if someone percieves your business one way, that automatically takes precedent over what your business may actually be. you're going to what's needed (hopefully nothing illegal of course) to sell your product. so you'll cater to the consumer's perceptions. perception is reality.

                                                             -aly <3

be preparedddddddd...

Trustee Pierce: business owner and member of the UNA Board of Trustees. Must be a very important person.

-------------------------//------------------------------//-----------------------

pierce gave us a very nice quote this week "the answer is always 'no' if you never ask." i think that is so true; i mean, you can always think you know what the answer is going to be, but you never know for sure until you actually ask. his talk was mainly about being prepared and how best to impress future employers and do well in job interviews and in life in general. very interesting i must say. gave me a lot to think about.

-------------------------//-----------------------------//------------------------

every employer has values which he/she looks for, but these are some of the basics that most everyone likes:

1. know as much about the company as possible
2. RESPECT
3. being on time
4. keeping a good facebook page (no icky pics, iffy status posts, nothing illegal, etc.)
5. good ideas
6. extraccuriculars relevant to application and personal interests

always be involved in activities; you'll get experience and have a better grasp of what your likes and dislikes are, and will have good things to put on your resume. having good connections is always a plus.

----------------------//------------------------------//------------------------

be prepared. that's the biggest aid to your job search. if you're prepared, you'll know what to expect and will have a better chance of being hired. know what your competition is, and how many and what kind of people you're going up against for that one job. for example, in computer information systems, there's been a large increase in international applicants, especially from India. in fact, my dad learned hindi so as to be able to communicate with his students better (he's a professor at USA in mobile).

---------------------//------------------------------//-------------------------

God gave you special gifts. use those to your best potential. don't take anything for granted. never stop learning. stay ahead of the curve. life lessons right there folks.

-aly <3                          

if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands(!)

This past week, an Renaissance man came and talked to us. Not like from that era and whatnot, he's just done a bit of everything. his dad was a contractor so he did lots of manual labor and is an artist, hunter, safari guide, and tons of other stuff. his name's McGee. that sounds like a dr. seuss character from "if i ran a zoo"...hmm.

-----------------------//-------------------------------//------------------------

so basically we got tips on how to be happy. which i think is great, cus that's pretty much what everyone wants in life. i mean, who says "yea i wanna be miserable my whole life"? no one i know at any rate. so. how to be happy. remember how, in your childhood, there were certain things you did where you were just so happy and blissful; the world could be crumbling round you and you wouldn't notice because you were so wrapped up in your activities? well, try to get back to that. what you loved in your childhood is the key to happiness in adult life. your childhood makes the base of everything you end up being; so wouldn't it make sense that the things you loved as a child will be most similar to the things that you will love as an adult. like, if your favorite thing was to have tea parties for your dolls, maybe catering or planning events would be the best thing for you.

---------------------//--------------------------------//-------------------------

when you're deciding your future, you need to be sure to have self-principles developed. you want a strong moral foundation so you can make good choices for yourself. also, you should start saving up money so when you decide to settle down and get married you'll have back-up funds should any disaster occur.

--------------------//--------------------------------//--------------------------

slow down, breathe, relax. "do what you love. love what you do" (good life).

-aly<3

¿puedo ir a España, por favor?

En nuestro clase de la semana anterior, nosotros aprendemos de la programa de "Study Abroad". A mí, eso es muy interesante; yo he querido ir a España cuando yo tuvo 8 años. Así, escribo en español. no puedo hablarla muy bueno, pero mi capacidad para hablar en español es mayor que mi capacidad para hablar en frances.

-----------------------//-------------------------------//------------------------

Básicamente, we learned about study abroad, and the wonders of it. I really want to go to Spain; i've actually wanted to since i was 8. Spain isn't the only place one can go for study abroad. the college of business sends students on a trip to china every year for 4 weeks. but i'm not sure if i want to go to china or not. i like spain so much better. especialmente porque ellos tienen La Tomatina (tomato fights). a mí no me gusta los toros pero eso es un parte muy importante de la cultura de España, y es muy interesante para aprenderla.

----------------------//-------------------------------//-------------------------

Fueron 4 personas para hablar con mi clase: un profesor y 3 estudiantes de la universidad quien han hecho la viaje de 'study abroad'. i especially liked Lauren, who had gone to Spain. her pictures were lovely, and i actually recognized some of the places from my highschool spanish books.

---------------------//-------------------------------//--------------------------

Todo en todo, fue una clase muy importante y interesante, y yo definitivamente quiero ir a europa, especialmente España. España es un país muy bonita y tiene una cultura muy diversidad y interesante a mí.

Adios, mis amigos.

  aly<3                         

make what you want of it

sooooooooooo here's the deal. i couldn't go to class this past week. why? well, i had other places to be. namely, Grace Episcopal Church in Sheffield, Alabama. tuesday was the choral fall showcase, and i, being in the collegiate singers, was required to be at the church at 6:00 for pre-concert rehearsal. therefore, unhappily, i missed class. so i kinda just lookd up our speaker, and read other's blogs, and here's my impression of her.

Ms. Libby Watts Jordan, Director of Cultural Tourism; UNA Board of Trustees; and Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Bureau. sounds pretty important.

In June 2011, she voted no when the board proposed moving UNA to Division One in athletics. The school is in fact moving slower in making the transition into the higher division as a result of the rejection by the Ohio Valley Conference; however, Jordan views this rejection as an opportunity to build strength in the school's Division Two athletics through fundraising and other such strategies. According to Jordan, this opportunity will end up a good strategy, because "when other conferences come to us with an invitation, we'll be ready." [florala.net, Lucy Berry]

So, important lady, important decisions. and her term on the board expires in 2019 so she's got lots of time to make happen what she wants to happen. because i think she can do it.

help you, yoda can

Dr. Wesley Deselle, surgeon at Helen Keller Hospital. he deals with mundane and general stuff, like gallbladders and hernias. i guess that's fun, if you like icky things. you can tell i'm not meant to be a doctor/surgeon/nurse/whatever. i hate shots; for my flu vaccination this year, i managed to get a mist where they just spritzed it up my nose it was so cool.
-----------------//--------------------------------//-----------------------------
he gave us pros and cons about medicine, and some good advice: it's not like tv shows where it's all glamorous; you need to think about the reality of it when making the choice of whether or not to enter the medical field. so pros and cons...

PROS

• satisfying work
• contribute to community
• monetary reimbursement

CONS

• time
• initial debt
• sacrifice of relationships
• kinda like SSA hotchner on "criminal minds", he and his wife divorced because he was always having to deal with work stuff. she ended up dying, it was really sad.

---------------------//------------------------------//------------------------

one can prepare for medical work in many ways: go to college, do volunteer work, internships, and residency.
---------------------//------------------------------//-----------------------
one has to keep in mind human values; the ones dr. deselle mentioned can be applied to learning/practicing medicine, as well any profession.

• mentorship
• YODA!! (the doc's idea, not mine)
• perserverance
• trust

-------------------//------------------------------//---------------------------

all in all, it was fun.

-aly<3

farm meet aly, aly meet farm. ok now go yak yak a while.

yay farming. we need it, some people have fun with it. without commercial farmers, all those less endowed with the ability to farm would most likely die, unless they like somehow developed a way to live without eating. that would be some messed up sh!t right there. if anyone knows something bout this, please share, i'm all ears. unless i'm not all ears, in which case you've still got 2 to talk to. there's a lot of "to"s in that sentence. wow i'm weird.

anyways. farming. so much fun. speaker this week, you guessed it, was a commercial farmer by the name of billy bob jones. haha i'm just kidding, that isn't his real name. it'd be spooky though if it was, right? so this farmer, William Lee (hey Billy is short for William, coincidence? most probably so. moving on.) on his area, he grows 4 different crops: cotton, wheat, soybeans, and corn.

cotton used to be high priced so they planted a lot. now it's not so high priced. what are they going to do? how should i know i'm not a farmer.

wheat and soybeans, didn't talk bout that much.

corn. aha here we go. corn is used for a lot, and now it's priced high because of it being put in gas and such, so they planted a lot of it and are now in for some major $$ <money>. but only about 10% of the corn actually goes to corn, the rest goes to like farms animals to eat. coolio for them. i like corn on the cob the best, it just doesn't taste as good when it's all "yay i'm free falling, gonna fall off your fork now" and you're all "hey get back on that fork so i can devour you!" and they're all "no way man!" so yea. ummmmm corn is evil. screws up your engine. great lesson kiddos, see ya next week.

-aly<3

apply yourself, you might get somewhere

Ross Barry, CEO of Shoals Hospital. I must say, he is a very good and inspirational speaker. he spoke a lot about decision-making, and how even though we can still have a good time in college, we must also figure out where we want to get in life and work towards that goal. for example, do we want to be bossed or be the boss? planning is a big part of life, and so many people these days just don't think about the future in that kind of mindset. they're like, oh i'll get to it later, i just wanna have fun right now. well that won't really get them anywhere now will it?

i personally have a problem with getting my homework done because i have to be in the mood. half the time i'd much rather be playing solitaire (call me an old lady all you want, that game is the shiznit). but i do manage to get everything in time, so i guess i fit into the category of being a normal teenager/college kid but not letting it get to extremes. i'm just lazy. not to proud to admit it. nobody should be, it's healthy to have a lazy time every now and then. just don't let that time be 24/7.

barry makes all his top level executives do required reading, which i think is kind cool. i like to read though, so that wouldn't be much of a problem for me. anyway. one of the books he has them is called "212 degrees". basically, water boils at 212 degrees; you can get it almost to boiling point at 211 degrees, but that don't quite cut it because it's not boiling. same thing with your life. you can't just get almost there, you have to do the whole shindig.

vera verum va vera causea: do the right thing the right way for the right reason.

-aly<3

don't shove it in my face, let me make my own decision. jeez.

i can be very cynical. so if you hate to hear cynicism stop reading right now. the sun is shining, there ya go, something optimistic to help your day. but. so anyone else confused about this week's speaker?

Mr. Macke Mauldin, president of Bank Independent. nice man, over-all. but i didn't sign up for the honors program and attend this class just to hear a commercial. because that's basically all his talk was, a commercial, propaganda. sure, your bank is awesome and all, i'm glad it works for you and all the people doing business there. but do you have to rub it in my face?

he started out kind of connecting it to us and how values affect our lives. but then he got off on a tangent about...yep you guessed it, his bank. apparently, there are 5 words they use for everyday practices. if anything isn't a part of those 5 words, they don't do it. uhhuh, i'm sure you audit every single instance of your business to see if everything is doing right. like you have that much time. you may have good intentions with that, but you admitted yourself that you mess up. and you can't fix every single mess-up because some people don't even notice the mistake. the five words are: people, community, strength, service, and convenience. seem sappy to anyone else? does to me.

ok, so you have live people on your phones from 8 to 8. so you're open on saturdays. that's not enough for me to switch banks just based on one talk. and the way he was talking just came across as if he was better than all of us because of his success and the bank is the best in the world and we should all become members. and i have a question. so his grandpa helped start the bank back in the 1960s. and then his dad took over. and now he's president. isn't there some kind of rule against that? or at least shouldn't he have explained how he came to be the president, like what are his qualifications? and his siblings are in the bank too. yea there are other family crews working, like father-son, mother-daughter. but still, seems a bit sketch to me.

the bank plays by the rules? is forthright with everything? NOBODY is like that, much less a big entity like a bank. it just isn't practically possible.

i'm sure that he made good points, and was a good representation of the bank. but. i don't want that shoved in my face. i didn't sit there just to have him spew about his bank and its awesomeness. i don't like commercials on t.v. where i can switch the channel, what makes him think i'll like it where i can't get up and leave?

thanks for the consideration, i really appreciate it.

go for the gold, or just stick with silver?

So...this week we got a visit from the Honorable Gilbert P. Self, Circuit Court judge for Lauderdale County. pretty interesting. i learned a lot of new stuff, for instance about how the fact that lady liberty holds a book of law is paradoxical; one wouldn't think that law gives liberty, but it does. Also, we were given a couple of life lessons, which i guess are always useful. basically, keep track of where you are and where you're heading. "keep your guard up" and don't get lost in the world of secularism. if you truly want to be happy in life, go outside your comfort zone. if you play it safe and only do what is comfortable, then are you really living? unless that's all you, in which case God bless and have fun with that. but if you're gonna go for the challenge, you need to have backbone to do what is right. don't let others talk you into doing something you know isn't right.

as a judge, the Honorable Self gets to deal with the "underbelly of the community". that may sound glamorous, but i'm sure it's not. i mean, yea, everyone wants to be this awesome crime solver who puts nasty criminals behind bars and save peoples' lives. that's possible. but there's always a bad part to every job. if there's no bad you can't properly appreciate the good. of course it's good that cruel humans are put in prison, but life isn't black and white. how do you know if the sentence is too harsh, or not harsh enough? being a judge must be incredibly hard, and i commend the Honorable Self for it. it takes guts, and backbone, to get up in front of everyone, especially the convicted's family, and denounce the convicted for crimes if guilty. it takes equal amount of guts and backbone to proclaim someone innocent if the public opinion is against them.

life is full of decisions and choices. the hard part is picking the right ones.

-aly<3

if you're good at math, it's probably you...

Thomas J. Calhoun Jr., Ph.D: our speaker for tuesday's class. it was rather interesting. confirmed my idea about the school system, and its not so great ejumacatingness. according to polls and research and such, few people in the united states are good at math once they reach high school.

so it really hurts kids who want to go into fields that need strong math (and science) skills, such engineer, computer programmer, etc. the CIS field is seriously in need of qualified people for work, and the jobs are only being filled because of foreign employees. My dad is a CIS professor at the university of south alabama, and a majority of his grad students are from india and the surrounding areas. so what are we supposed to do? train teachers better? get kids more interested in schooling? i don't know, i'm not a doctor.

when asked, only about 7 people in my class considered themselves good at math. we have 56 students. and this is the honors program, where we're generally considered as smarter than the average college student. and if we're having math problems, what does that say about the rest of the student population?

we've got an issue, and there's no right way to solve it. that sounds like a math problem. oops don't know how to do that.

once again, we've proven that everyone is different...

when a person murders another person, everyone is in an uproar. they want the murderer to get what they deserve, be punished similarly, etc. but how do we arrive at these conclusions? do we not all have a subconcious set of values and morals that we hold others accountable to? well, we do. that is quite obvious in the way people treat others who are seen as wrongdoers. but when we try to write out a list of our values, it becomes quite hard. if told to select only 10 out of a list of 28, as we were instructed in class last tuesday, many people get frustrated and can't decide how to choose one and not the other, because they're all important, right? of course right. but no, you have to make tough choices sometimes.

Having split into 8 groups of 7 (that took a little bit, you'd be surprised how many honors kids, such as me, have problems with math), we attempted to create a collective list of values. but we could only have 7 at the most on our list. most people went with the whole 'FAB FIVE' deal. my group ended up with a total of five also: knowledge, passion, ethical standards, independence, and love. do you know how hard it was to file our lists down into those five? well, it was difficult. we decided to just write the ones that a majority of the group had written. it was rather funny hearing which ones some people didn't have. not to judge or anything though. judging is mean. oops there i go, spouting a value. well at least we know they're good for something.

so in conclusion. values are good. if they come in conflict with each other you've got some tough decisions ahead of you. life is good. love people. aly out

-aly<3

let it begin

so, starting out in my first semester of college at UNA. fun, right? oh so fun. i'm not sure what to expect in any of my subjects, but they seem pretty average for core classes. that is, until i get to my honors forum. dr. vince stands at the front of the room and basically tells us: blog about the class. that's your homework for each week. so i'm thinking "sweet, i've never blogged before this'll be awesome." it is pretty awesome so far, anyways. and before you start ragging me about my lack of capital letters, let me give you my theory on those. i don't like capital letters. never have, never will. they're elitist; they think they're so special because they get to be bigger than all the other letters. well i think that all letters are equal and should be expressed equally. so do all things in all caps or no caps. i prefer no caps cus it's just easier to read. be glad i still use punctuation.

continuing on...

we're supposed to be writing about our first weeks of school, memphis trip, the honors forum, and i guess life in general. first week of school was pretty nifty; no class til wednesday so for the first half of the week we kinda wandered around like lost ducks looking for something to fill up our time with. or at least i did anyway. i mean, i had stuff to do, i just didn't have a schedule for anything and it was like "i guess i'll do this now, oh that's going on? i'll go see what that's about." now that school has officially (that's so scary sounding, dontcha think?) started, i'm pleased to report that i do in fact now have a schedule. go me. 

in school for 3 days, and then we get a road trip. i love road trips, especially when i know the people i'm going on the trip with. this trip was no exception. even though i was tired and cranky, i still had lots of fun. the group i wandered around with started out with about 3 people plus me, and grew to about 7 people, which was awesome. we ate mexican, which was reallllllllllllly good (you can tell how good it was by the amount of 'l's i used), and then walked to the tennessee river. we could hear this lady talking on her phone when we were at the top of the hill and she was at the bottom, and courtney was answering all her questions it was rather funny. being the lazy bum i am, i went to bed around 11:30 pm. but that was good because i had more energy for the next day.

vince took us to the memphis brooks art museum and the memphis zoo. the art musuem was cool; i liked the temporary exhibit area best. there was this one painting it was so amazing i could've stared at it for the entire 2 hours that we spent in the musuem. it was called "birth of the blues" but i don't remember who created it *sad face*. i was really excited to see giraffes at the zoo, they're my favorite besides possums. there were possums too(!) in the night life part, but it was hiding so i couldn't see it. but it was there and i was *thissss* close to seeing it. i love possums they're so cute. most people are like "ewww possums" but i personally think they're adorable. did you know that they can't actually hang by their tails? it can't support the weight of an adult, and only temporarily support the weight of a baby, so they use it for help climbing trees or carrying things. possums are fascinating creatures. they're 8x less likely to carry rabies than a dog. betcha didn't know that.

i'm looking forward to the honors forum, i think this blogging thing will be fun. i'm having fun already just typing whatever pops into my head. and i'm sure everyone else will loveee reading it. i can't wait to blog about our guest speakers and what they have to say to us.

-aly<3 (i always put a heart after my name)