EQ 17

FBLA's station has almost no up front expenses because all the materials were already owned or borrowed.  We expected little to no expenses because the school supplied us with the wood for the plaques, we found the stain in the wood shop and we already owned the books we sold.  I also asked a few FBLA members to bring baked goods, but I'm not sure if they did or not, but even if they did, it wouldn't have cost us anything because I asked individuals to bring it in so the school wouldn't have to buy it.

EQ 16

The presentation went okay.  I wish I would've had more time to prepare.  Honestly, if I were an investor, I wouldn't invest in it.  I didn't sound very knowledgeable, some of the requirements weren't met for certain aspects of the project and it was a very short presentation.  To improve it, I would've made sure my commercial was working and rehearsed what I was going to say more because I just stood up there and rambled.

EQ 15

As the only member of my company, I had to complete the business plan for Freeman Fotography by myself.  It wasn't too difficult, but there was a steady work load each day. However, I couldn't have successfully finished this project if I hadn't set goals and milestones for myself each day.  I had a set number of sections to complete each day, and I knew if I didn't achieve the goal for that day, I would just have extra work the next day.  I had to keep myself moderately motivated in order to reach my daily goals.

I see potential pros and cons in the idea of partner-work for myself.  Yes, I would only have to complete half of the work, assuming that my partner did their part, but at the same time,  I would've been more distracted, and I prefer not to work with people even if it means doing more work.  I find that it is the easiest to avoid conflict and social stress.

I didn't learn many new things from this project, however, I became adroit in a few new skills.  I have never been much of a planner, but for this project, I realized early on that I would need to be so I began with setting small goals to complete each day with the larger goal being to complete a business plan.  I also became more familiar with some "adult" terms that I will need to know in the very near future, such as mortgages and equity.  I was also able to strengthen some of the skills I came into the project with.  I needed to add lots of "fluff" to most of the subsections.  Although I could've said almost everything I needed to in a couple of sentences, I was able to write an entire page, sometimes more, by adding details and irrelevant facts and by taking random rabbit trails throughout the business plan without making it seem distracting.  

EQ 14

My generation is one of entitlement and expectations so I think its important to take time to dwell on the things we are thankful for.  I am thankful for many things. Although I may bash it a lot, I am thankful to live in a country with some freedom.  Some countries around the world do not have the freedom of speech, religion or the press as America does so I am thankful for the Bill of Rights.

I'm also thankful for the free public education in America.  Yes, we used to be top of line, and now, America is number 27 on the public education charts, but I am still thankful for it.  I am thankful for the many teachers who have made my life what it is today.  I am very thankful for my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Criss.  I learned more in her class than I have any year since then.  I am also thankful for Mrs. Judy, a counselor at Pressley Ridge.  She helped me through a hard time and taught me so much about life.  Being a teacher isn't just one of those jobs where you just go for the paycheck.  You have to genuinely care about the students.  The workers at McDonald's cook your food, but they usually don't leave such an impact on your life.  I think that teachers are on the same level as doctors and judges as far as impacting the people they work with.  Teachers mold children's lives.  I spend more time with my teachers than I do with my parents.  It has been that way since I began school, because they are always either working or weren't there.  Parents are given too much credit for raising children.  Teachers also have a huge say in how a child will turn out.

Although my parents haven't always been there, I am thankful for them.  I'm also thankful for my foster parents.  Most foster kids don't maintain relationships with foster families after returning to their birth parents, but I have always had a strong relationship with my foster family.  They still support me and hang out with me when they can.  I have always made the mistake of calling people my home instead of places, because ever since I was little, I didn't know where I'd be from one moment to the next.  We moved around a lot.  I've lived in 9 different houses and we are moving again on December 4.  Also, my parents are divorced and have been since I was a baby and there wasn't really ever a schedule of who had me so there was a lot of fighting and sometimes I went back and forth 2 or 3 times a week.  At one point, I was homeless so family has always been so important to me and meant more than a building, even though my definition of family has change a lot.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and they aren't lying.  I've lived with just about everybody; parents, grandparents, friends, strangers, a foster family, my aunt and uncle, just my younger siblings and I for a while.  I think community is such a vital concept in a society.  I am thankful for the people in our community and the strong concept of community and unity that we have in this area.  I was homeless in Morristown, NJ for a while.  Morristown is a city of about 20,000, and the people there are not like the people here in our town of 7,000.  They are rude and stuck-up and don't even make eye contact on the streets.  People in neighborhoods had "No loitering" signs on their porches that were directed towards the homeless.  It made me very thankful for the tight sense of community we have here.

EQ 13

      We can all look around and see that the education system these days is lacking to say the least.  The generation of tomorrow will no longer have inventors and famous mathematicians and thinkers.  Children aren't being taught anymore.  Doctors won't be able to sign prescriptions because children aren't taught to write in cursive.  Grocery shopping will take hours because the memorization of multiplication tables was recently taken out of schools.  How can we expect the future generations to establish civilizations on distant planets when they don't even know the geography of their own?  But not to worry!  We are integrating technology into education and technology must mean good.

     When I was in the second grade, let me remind you that I'm only now in the twelfth so this is a change over only ten years,  a local author came in and I wrote my own book.  Sure, it was extremely short and about a rainbow puppy, but I was capable of writing in full, comprehensive sentences by that age.  We sang the National Anthem every morning, followed by a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. In third grade, I learned to write in cursive.  The morning ritual was shortened to only the Pledge.  In fourth grade, we went caving at the Sinks of Gandy and camping at the 4-H camp and collected water samples. By the end of fourth grade, I was required to memorize and recite the multiplication tables.  By the end of fifth grade, I knew all of the fifty states, their capitals and their geographic location.  That year, we also learned the presidents in order to date.  In sixth grade, we learned a song for the fifty-five counties of West Virginia and their county seats.  My seventh grade year, the system experienced a change.

     My siblings are now in ninth grade, only three years younger than me.  In second grade, no one came to write stories with them.  In third grade, they learned about butterflies, which is great, but now they can't sign their name for their driver's licenses.  In fourth grade, they watched lots of movies and ate vegges at holiday parties.  They are unable to do simple algebra because they were never taught they multiplication tables.  In fifth grade, they went to Monticello and Washington D.C. That's fun, but neither of them can even name the fifty states, let alone their capitals and locations.  I makes me sad when they ask who Thomas Jefferson was or cannot make the connection between Nixon and the word "watergate". In sixth grade, they got new computers and iPads for "learning", yet my siblings haven't even heard of half of the counties nor their county seats.

      Now, I'm not one for government conspiracies and such, but let's take a look at the facts.  Why weren't slaves allowed to learn to read?  Why did Hitler burn the books as soon as he came to power?  Because education is power and if the oppressed people were educated, they could regain control!  But not to worry, we are the "Information Age" who can't sign their names or name the states of the country they live in.

EQ 12

Throughout my research, I learned many things.  I was looking at two separate buildings to potentially invest in.  One was to rent and the other was to buy.  I did the calculations and learned that it would take over 23 years of paying rent to equal paying the house off.  I decided to go with the house to rent because I didn't want to be obligated to stay in the other house for 23 years.

I also learned that a lot more expenses come with owning a business than I realized.  There is insurance, water/sewage, rent/payments, electric, supplies, equipment, loan payments to the bank and payroll for yourself and other employees.

I learned that a lot of dedication is required because most small businesses are in the hole for the first two years of operation.  I didn't know that.  It was a shocking realization, but it explains why many small businesses close early on.

I learned that the price of quality cameras is outrageous. For only the lens and camera I selected, the combined price is nearly $5,500.00!  And that doesn't include the lighting equipment or any accessories for the camera.

Finally, I learned how to use a loan calculator.  I found it on a House Hunter's Real Estate website. This website was very useful and informative.  I learned that a principal is the total amount you are wanting to borrow and that you have to know the bank's interest rate among other things to use the calculator.  I have already learned a lot of necessary skills through this project and I'm not even half way finished!

EQ 11

This week, we learned how to create/insert a button in Flash.  First, create a new layer labeled "Buttons". Next, you draw a rectangle on the stage.  Then, you type the word "Next" in that box.  That is your button.  You use coding to make the button work.  You create an Actions layer. Then, you go to the "Actions" tab and type "stop();" in the box.  This makes the movie stop on the slide to make the button useful.

EQ 10

This week, we were introduced to Flash.  It is used to created animations.  We learned that the white work space is called the stage; its where the "actor preform".  We also learned that clicking "Control, Test, Test Movie" automatically creates a swf file.  When it is a swf, the pictures of your animation flash very quickly.  Finally, we learned how to layer the frames.  If you're working on the background and want it to go from frame 1-10, you create the frame on frame 1 and then click on frame 10 and it takes it to there.

9 Weeks Exam

This is my 9 weeks exam activity.  It was created in Photoshop.  It was originally two photos; the flower and the bee, but I combined them into one.  First, I created a new template and made it 4inx4in. I used the Place tool to insert the flower and made it fit the page. I used the Quick Selection tool to select the bee.  I had to use the plus and minus because the wings were tricky.  Then, I copied it and pasted it on the flower picture. I used the Free Transform tool to turn the bee and adjust the size to make it look real on the flower.  Next, I had to adjust the color balance because, since the wings are transparent, it was showing the colors of the previous picture.  I used the Color Balance tool and adjusted the levels until it matched the background.  I saved it for web as a gif.

EQ 9

The simplest assignment for the Photo Project was the poster. I just added a filter to a nature photo to brighten it, added a quote and put my standard background.  The most difficult was the color changing one.  It is difficult because I chose to change the color of a leaf in a picture I took.  The lighting on the leaf is weird or something so its difficult to adjust the color balance to make it look realistic.

EQ 8

I really like this picture.  I like the contrast of the shadowed trees and brightness of the sky.  The clouds and fluffy and voluminous.  The tree line almost forms a silhouette.  I also like the way the light comes through the clouds.

I also like this picture.  I like the detail of it.  I had no idea that my phone could take such clear, up close pictures.  I like how the rain droplets are captured on the leaf and the veins are dominant.  I think in this picture, the leaf looks like skin.  The tiny, smaller vains look like the lines on skin and the water is pooled in drops how it does on your hand.

EQ 7

      When generating a company, there are many things that must be considered.  Money is essential.  Rent, supplies, employees and accessories all require funding.  A location and advertising are also an important part of the marketing department of a new business.  These are all physical things, but also, things like will-power and determination are vital in creating a new business.

EQ 6

Explain what has been your favorite activity during the first 6 weeks of class and how you created it. Explain in detail. Add the image to your blog.
      
     The trace face has been my favorite activity so far.  I thought it looked cool just being in black and white with the dominant features.  We used photoshop and copied a picture to the page then created a new layer and used the pencil to trace the facial features.  Then he hid the background layer and it looked cool.

EQ #5

What is the KISS theory? Why is it important to remember when designing logos?
      KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. This is important to remember for logos because you don't want them to look busy. There needs to be a single focus and supporting details. Keep it short, sweet and to the point.

EQ 4

You were introduced to Illustrator today. What type of graphics does Illustrator create? How is that different than Photoshop? Which do you think you like better and why?
      Illustrator creates more symbol-based graphics rather than the photo-editing based graphics of photoshop. I personally like photoshop much better because it is more user friendly and things such as symbols and designs are readily available and don't have to be created like they do on Illustrator.

EQ 3

Explain what the dpi is for pictures for the web and for print and why they are different. Describe 3 Photoshop tools that you learned this week.

     Dpi stands for dots per inch.  This is another word for the resolution.  The resolution of a picture is basically how clear it will be.  If the dpi is low, the pixels of the picture will be visible and it will look like little squares of color all over. The standard dpi for pictures on the internet is 72. The standard dpi for printing a picture is 300. That is a big difference. If you print a picture with 72 dpi off the internet, it won't be very clear and won't look like good quality.
      This week in photoshop, I learned how to use the brush tool in more diverse ways. Different shapes can be used with the brush tool. For example, I used the leaf feature of the brush tool to put copious amounts of leaves all over my bookmark. I also learned to use the gradient tool. To use this tool you simply choose 2 completely different colors and a design and the computer will create a fade from one color to the next using the design you chose. In addition to the brush and the gradient tool, I learned to use the magic wand. It seems to have more than one use, but I only used it to erase the white background of a logo. I learned a lot about photoshop this week!

EQ 2

Explain what has been your favorite activity this week and how you created it. Add the image to your blog.

I really enjoyed the Trace-face project this week.  I knew absolutely nothing about photoshop and through the project I learned some things about a few of the features.  I used a photo that my partner took of himself.  Then, I added a layer for each part of the face; the eyes, the mouth, the nose, etc.  Next, I used the pencil tool to trace around his facial features.  Every once in a while, I clicked the eye on the background layer which hid the background picture, allowing me to see only what I had drawn with the pencil.  I added as much detail as possible and tried to trace the picture almost exactly.

EQ 1

What is one of your strengths? Weakness? Why should I hire you?

I have very strong time-management skills.  I plan everything.  I plan what I need to do after school, what errands I need to run and how much time each task will take me.  I am very organized.  This is a huge strength because every project in every field of the workforce requires planning and good use of time in order to achieve the task in a timely manner.

Working in large groups is not one of my strong points, however.  I work much better when I am alone or in a very small group.  I am a tenacious worker and like to get the job finished as quickly as possible.  My unique way of thinking leaves me at a disadvantage in large groups because I usually think of solutions at a different angle than the other people in the group.  I also like to work quickly yet thoroughly which doesn't always work for other people so I prefer to work alone. Group project are a weakness for me.

I am a good worker.  I have a voracious sense of curiosity for what I'm working on.  Even if its not required, I usually research the topic I am working with just out of sheer curiosity.  Due to the fact that I like to get the job done quickly, I rarely miss work and I am usually very interested in my work. I have a lot to bring to the table and would be an asset to your business.