Time Strategies

    My time management strategy will be to try to stick to my schedule as much as possible. Currently, I'm planning to do my school work on Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays. I chose those days as those are the days I work as an intern and I tend to have some free time at work, so I figure I can do my school work during downtime at work and finish whatever I have left to do when I get home after work. Hopefully this plan will work out and I can enjoy four day weekends.

    I read the articles "Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination" and "How to Beat Procrastination". I chose these articles since I tend to procrastinate a lot when it comes to my academic work. However, I don't procrastinate nearly as much when comes to other things, like working in a job/career sense. The articles were somewhat useful I suppose. They gave me some ideas to try when I feel like procrastinating, such as asking myself questions or pre-committing (like making a schedule). If it wasn't for me graduating early and making this my last semester, I'd be much more inclined to procrastinate, but I'm going to try to get this class done early.

Time by bitslammer (April 2010). Source: Flickr

    My biggest time challenge will probably be just getting used to the online format and having to constantly check what is due and when, since four out of five of my classes are purely online with no online meeting, and getting them done in a timely manner . It will be a bit strange for me to not see my instructors/professors or being taught in a more direct manner. However, I feel confident that the classes will still go well.

Technology

    I have not used any of the tools you have mentioned, but they all seem pretty straight forward and easy to learn. I have no worries that I will not be able to figure out how to utilize these tools for the class. One tip some people may find useful is using and familiarizing themselves with inspect element. If there is a photo that you can't seem to save, for example, you should be able to find the photo using inspect element and open it in another tab and save it from there.

 Atmospheric Technology by Savannah River Site (July 2013). Source: Flickr

    This online environment is unlike any class I've had as they've all been through canvas. They never had their own website that hosts all the information pertaining to the class and goes along with the canvas site.

Assignments

    I am most intrigued by the storytelling assignment in the class as I think it will be fun to add onto or change stories. Perhaps I will add some twist or mystery to some stories. In terms of extra credit, I really like the "microfictions" and "famous last words" options. They seems just short and sweet enough for me.

Story by rossyyume (August 2012). Source:Flickr

    As far as I can tell, this class is unlike any I have taken before. I greatly appreciate the more lenient, "work on your own time" approach this class takes. I also really like that the writing doesn't have to be super formal, like an essay. Though I'm not a fan of writing, I feel this class will be much more enjoyable than other classes with the writing assignments.

Growth Mindset

    I have definitely heard of the growth mindset before. I can't exactly remember when I first heard of it, maybe it was in my high school psychology class, but it's been brought up a few times throughout my academic career. Typically, it was always a comparison between the growth mindset and fixed mindset with a push for the students to have a growth mindset. 

Grow your People by Xavier Vergés (June 2011). Source: Flickr

    I struggled with having a growth mindset, if I'm understanding it right, in an academic sense because I never really cared about schooling and procrastinated a lot, still do. Growing up, my parents always pushed me to do well in school and luckily for me, things tended to click so I did do well. However, I was never really interested in the subjects that were taught so I never really challenged myself to do better. My policy tended to be "strive for an A, settle for a B". Though strive really just meant "don't procrastinate too much". I always had the mindset of "do what I have to do to get good grades so I can go to college". That then turned into, "do what I have to do to get a decent job", but I never went above and beyond to really challenge my understanding of a certain subject or anything like that. I managed to skip a grade in math and finish high school with something like 54 hours of college credit already done. I just did the work required and never felt the need to putting in the effort to challenge myself because it felt like it didn't really matter and wasn't going to help as I seemed to already be performing well. To me, most classes seem to be just filler because they are mandatory to meet some standard, so challenging myself in them just seems like unnecessary work for little to no reward. Anyway, I feel like I'm getting off track, so I'll move on.

    A couple times where I believe growth mindset kicked in for me were when I was on the speech and debate team in high school and when I play video games. I was a public forum debater, there are a few different kinds of debates one could participate in, in high school. I felt it was the most challenging and fun as tournaments would be a whole day of constantly trying to convince the judges why your argument was more correct. It would get heated and loud sometimes, but it was always a good time when you went against a good debate team because it would bring out a good amount of aggressiveness and creativity into the arguments with every point that was made being challenged. In terms of video games, it essentially boils down to the fact that if it's too easy, then it gets boring, so I tend to do challenges, harder difficulties, or ranked play to push myself to do better and I tend to have more fun, enjoy games more, and learn the game better. This in turn allows for better strategies in the future and a more engaging experience.

Introduction to Manny

    I am Manuel Aponte, though many people call me Manny. I am a Management Information Systems (MIS) major. I am currently a senior set to graduate in December. One of my favorite things about this major is the option to take classes that focus on cyber security as that is the field I want a career in. The best class I've taken so far has been Infrastructure and Security because it has been the most informative and relevant class for my career goals. 

    My career goals have changed throughout my life. Ever since I was a young lad I wanted to join the military. This was partly due to my family and largely due to me being interested in firearms, vehicles, battles, and such. The familial influence came from my dad, Navy during Nam, uncle, Army 101st Airborne during Nam, and brother, currently a Marine reservist. I had wanted to join the Army when I was really young because I thought that's all the military was. As I grew older I learned of the other branches and the different things they all did. While I was in high school my brother joined the Marines and I switched to wanting to join the Marines because of him. As I got closer to graduating high school, I met with the recruiters and went to PT with them and the other poolees (Marine recruits before they ship out to basic training) about six months before I graduated. Everything seemed to be going well until I actually did graduate and the ball started rolling on actually recruiting me. Unfortunately when I was two and five years old, I had some surgeries done because I was a sick boy, and part of the recruitment process is going through MEPS and having their docs look at you and review your medical history. The doc took a look and said no, so the Marines said there was nothing they could do and transferred me to the Army recruiters. 

Group poolee photo RSS OKC South from November 2016.

    The Army recruiters helped me out by contacting the MEPS doc and trying to see what could be done. For the next about year and a half, we had a back and forth with the doc about different things he needed tested to see if he could accept me, so I got them tested. During this time, I figured if I got in, I would join the Army as a combat engineer and earn a Sapper and Ranger tab. Unfortunately, after spending thousands in medical exams and repeatedly being told I'm fine, healthy, and that there was nothing wrong with my body from the surgeries I had when I was young, the MEPS doc kept turning me away. I decided to give up on trying to join as I was already halfway done with my degree and the doc didn't budge. 

    I was originally a Civil Engineering major that switched to a Construction Science major (basically like Civil Engineering but less math and more science) since I wanted to be a combat engineer. I then switched my major to MIS so that I could have a better chance at serving my country from a civilian role. Also, civilian construction jobs didn't interest me.

 

Personal photo of my dog Deagle from August 2019.

    My current path seems to be working out quite nicely as I wasn't set back much since I'm still graduating early, and I'm currently working for the Air Force (as an Intern) in a cyber security role with a job lined up with them in December. In some ways, I think it was meant to be as the Air Force was the only branch no one in my family has been in so I suppose I fill that role now. I now work in a field I'm happy with that also allows me to spoil my family, especially my dog, and purchase firearms, my biggest hobby.

My Top 3 Storybook Favorites

The Trials of the Four Warriors/Ramayana Battles

    This story book interests me as it deals with warriors and wordplay. I enjoy a good story about people who are put on a quest and have to battle or go through some sort of trial, usually involving conquering some impossible feat. It's always interesting to see how an author sets the scene or gives information about people. I also like the manipulation of the words used in wishes, curses, or blessings in this case. There's always a big brain way to get around it, and, in this case, it's by having four warriors.

A battle scene from a manuscript of the Ramayana (April 2012). Source: Wikimedia

Music Battles

    I find this one interesting because the introduction is a bit vague. There is a beast terrorizing a city and it just wants to hear a certain song to become peaceful, but no one knows the song. Gods and goddesses are even helping to try to restrain the beast but are unsure if it would be enough. I'm somewhat surprised by this as I would've thought the gods and goddesses could easily handle a beast. I'm not sure what the beast is but I picture something like a big wolf-bear hybrid. I'd like to see the direction this one goes. Does someone find the song? Or maybe something else? I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

The Divine Bow

    This one seems interesting because the divine bow was broken and they are trying to figure out how that happened. The intro starts with a group of gods gathering around and getting ready to discuss what happened to the bow. They intro ends by eluding to the first story, but I haven't gotten into them yet. It seems like a simple thing may be very complicated and perhaps devastating as it is a sacred weapon. I wonder about the impact and significance of this bow, but I hope to find out. I also hope it involves a battle of some kind since I like that kind of stuff. 

A Couple Favorite Places of Mine

    Other than my house, I have a few places I actually enjoy spending time at. The most enjoyable of those places is the gun range. I love taking my firearms to the range and practicing different styles and positions for shooting. I love the impulse of the recoil, the smell of the gunpowder, the bang of the rounds going off, the clinking of the brass hitting the ground, and the fact that I can see where my shots are landing on target. The variety of firearms and distances available just warms my heart. I can practice long range precision shots with a .308 rifle or just mag dump at the target with my conceal carry. I much prefer outdoor gun ranges over indoor ones as it seems more free and easier to breathe. They also typically have longer distances available.

Personal photo from Canadian Ranges from May 2017.

    Another place that I've been too that is definitely among my favorites is Alaska. I was fortunate enough to go on a cruise when I was about six or seven because my mom worked for the company at the time and a steeply discounted cruise trip happened to be a benefit. The trip started in Seattle, which was a nice city, stopped twice in Canada, and then made a few more stops in Alaska. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about Canada. Alaska, however, left a very good impression on me. We had seen a native temple in Alaska that I thought was amazing because it seemed so small on the outside but so roomy on the inside. It also reminded me of a cabin, and I am fond of cabins. We also saw a lumberjack show, where they essentially carved out some chairs, animals, and other various props while dancing around. Alaska also had a salmon farm that we visited, and they had what was probably some of the best salmon I ever had along with a warm piece of some sort of special bread and cream cheese. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Unfortunately, we eventually had to go back to sunny California. I say unfortunately because I much prefer cold and snowy weather over sunshine and heat. We also never saw a sight as beautiful as the one below, but there were still many beautiful landscapes that we got to experience.

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Beaver Creek Wild and Scenic River, Alaska photographer Bob Wick (March 2013). Source: Flickr

    There are a few other places I quite enjoy but maybe I'll share those another time. There are also many places I wish to experience, such as Maine and Poland, but they will have to wait for now.

Test: Movie List

 John Wick

Saving Private Ryan

Black Hawk Down

13 Hours

Sicario

6 Days