My Goals and Visions

1) I wish to become a high ranking officer within the NYPD

As I stated in my earlier blog entry, I am currently a cadet for the NYPD. After I graduate from college, I plan on entering the police academy. I could actually drop out of college right now and enter the academy, but I have chosen not to do so. I want to at least get my bachelors degree so I would have more promotional opportunities in the future as a police officer. With my dedication and passion towards my career, I believe I have the potential to excel within the ranks of the NYPD.


2) Continue my education in Chinese history

I have a very strong interest in ancient Chinese history. I will be studying abroad during the upcoming summer semester in China and will be taking courses in Chinese history. I enjoy reading about ancient China as my leisure reading material. But, I will not be able to finish a degree in Chinese history in the near future because I am preoccupied with my accounting degree. A month after I graduate from Baruch, I will enter the police academy, and due to the amount of time necessary for a career in law enforcement, it will be near impossible to attend college at the same time. I plan on putting this goal on hold until I retire from the NYPD around the age of 45. After retirement, I will have all the time in the world to study and go back to school.

3) Start a family

Well what's life without family? I think family is an essential part of life but it is being slowly forgotten about in our fast paced ways of life. Many of my friends are single because they spend too much time with their work and do not wish to settle down. But, I feel that all that hard work and dedication to a career is necessary, yet one also needs to have a home to return to. In terms of how I can achieve a family, I don't really know what I can do at the moment.

4) See more to understand

I don't think it is possible to know about others without actually traveling and experiencing the world. I wish to take a year or two off after I retire to travel the world and just enjoy life. In terms of an itinerary, I definitely will try to travel through most of China, including the rural and undeveloped areas. There is no point in traveling to gain knowledge if I restrict myself to cities and developed areas. In terms of what I can do to achieve this goal, I will have to work hard up till my retirement so I can be financially stable. I mean, how can I travel for two years if I am broke?

Chaos in class

I took the avoidance approach towards handling this conflict. Although I avoided the conflict, my reason for avoidance was not because I felt that my opinion didn't count, it was more that I felt indifferent towards the outcome, just as long as I was not hurt in any way. I would have been happy with a 5 point curve or even a 1 point curve, because either way, it would be a gain. By my entering into the conflict and adding a voice into the chaotic classroom would just cause more noise and more chaos.

I feel the outcome was pretty favorable. I was surprised the class was able to come to a consensus. Each person had a different agenda that benefited him/herself. Conflict was inevitable, and I think the class handled itself very well with the given time constraint and lack of resources. I think if we took a couple minutes out to clearly define and spell out the details of each proposal option, less conflict would have resulted because there would be less misunderstandings amongst students.

How our egg survived...

Our group unknowingly followed almost every step of the planning process. We started off by identifying that our problem was to have the egg fall from the height of ten feet and not crack. We reviewed the task given and figured out that we have two available paths to take. We can either somehow cushion the impact or we could somehow decrease the drop distance. After much discussion, our group decided on combining both ideas.
We realized that we had limited resources, eight straws and two feet of masking tape. Our plan required us to attach a ten foot rope like structure to the egg. But we had too little resources to achieve that. Our group realized that the straws could be cut in half vertically to turn eight straws into sixteen. Also, instead of taping the straws together, we knotted them instead to save tape. This way, our group was able to save on a lot of tape and use it as an additional segment of the rope. Whatever was left over was to be taped to the egg as cushion for the fall.
We divided the group up based on ability. Two members cut and knotted the straws, two members planned out the proposal, and one member drew the diagram. But the members that were working on the administrative aspects were able to finish ahead of time and were able to aid in the straw knotting process. Everything went smoothly and we actually ended up with extra resources that was taped to the egg as a cushion. I volunteered to bring the egg up for the test/presentation. Because our rope structure was about ten feet long, the egg didn't really dropped. In fact it started about an inch off the ground. I let go of the rope and all was well. Success.
Our group should have come up with a back-up plan just in case our rope project failed. We all agreed on the design, and without any tests or in depth planning, jumped right at it. But this was mostly due to the lack of time and limited amount of resources available to our group. If we decided to use one design, we would not have sufficient resources to implement another plan.
Overall, our group succeeded because of teamwork, discussion, and luck.