eBay / PayPal Update

I would have to say it has been very successful despite the slow start; it is definitely starting to pick up, and I have a couple tasks to complete that may take a bit of time. I am learning a lot, and constantly learning new things every day. Although I am still a bit unsure of my title, I know what I need to do to hopefully get offered a contract. I am learning high level material from deploying virtual servers to troubleshooting servers across the globe. In the work I do, there is a huge risk factor involved; one mistake can cause a bunch of important servers across the globe to crash, so I have to always be very careful and cautious in what I am doing.

So far, it is going really well. I like all the people here, and they are really friendly and always willing to help. When I was first told that I would be going to eBay, I was a bit hesitant. The description that was given to me gave me interest; it was only leaning toward programming and automation, but my first day I come to find out I will be working for two teams. The other team is the 3PP, which is pretty much System Admin work. Currently, I am working on a project to install language packs in the servers. Although, it is a lot to take in coming in blind, I am really appreciative with the material I am learning here.

Wrapping Up the 1st Week

I just finished my last shift of the week at eBay / PayPal and so far, so good. I have been asking many questions, and trying my best to comprehend everything everyone is teaching me. After all of the questions I have asked I found out that I am working in the 3PP department, which stands for third party portal. I know you guys might be thinking what's that? I still don't know the whole infrastructure. Honestly, it has been a lot to take in, especially since the team I work with are level 3 support and doing System Admin work, as well as automation. One thing I was somewhat familiar with was virtualizing, but not the ones we have been doing at Year Up, but server virtualizations that has to do with VLans, Vcenters, and ILO. All of these new softwares and techonologies I am foreign to, but I look forward to this challenge, stepping up to the plate, and absorbing as much knowledge as I can to help my future careers. As this is the first week down out of twenty six, I am ready for it.

What I am Bringing to the Table

Some of the skills that I learned at Year Up that will add value to E-Bay is using my LAMP stack skills I have developed from TAOS practice leaders. As for the QA skills that I learned, I hope to put my problem solving, critical thinking, and identify bugs skills into use that will add value. Before Year Up, I managed to build my own computer, so that should also take me a long way in my career.

When arriving to E-bay, the first set of skills I would display is my interpersonal communication skills while maintaining a positive attitude and professionalism. By displaying professionalism and interpersonal communication skills, this will help me build a network and mentors within the company to help me succeed that may help me get a job a contractor or even a full-time position.

To stand out at E-Bay, I will come to work with a positive attitude, maintain professional, and go above and beyond of what was asked. I really would like to add value, so I will be giving it my best everyday. Also, I would go around other departments to learn more about the company and to keep soaking up as much knowledge as I can that would help leverage my chances of getting hired.

These past six months at Year Up, I have practiced being dependable, positive, and eager. I have taken almost every opportunity that came my way; all while working  a second job and extra LAMP stack course. Although I received my first infraction last week, I have gone through the whole learn and development phase without getting one, and still to this day I get to Year Up at 7:30 almost everyday even when it starts at 8:30. Now that I am going to a big company, I will keep the same standards, if not, I will go above that. Even with personal problems or outside issues and stress I deal with daily, I am so focused that no matter the situation, nothing is going to stop me from being successful; that is what keeps me positive everyday.

Leveraging My Internship

1) Avoid Negativity - I chose avoid negativity as the most important one because no one likes working with a person who has a negative attitude. As soon as I enter my internship, I will bring nothing but a positive attitude and dedication. I want to prove that I can add value to the company. To measure this, I will adapt to the company's culture, professional at all times, and to be autonomous.

2) Don't be Afraid to Ask Questions - I think this will be the next one on the list because I will be entering internship without any knowledge of my responsibilities; it is kind of like walking into a dark room. As soon as I am in internship, I would ask as many questions as I can after exhausting my resources of course. By asking a colleague for help, I will take notes on what the colleague has helped me with.

3) Take Initiative - Taking initiative is very important; if you do not speak up or let your voice be heard, the manager would not know who you are, which will lead to not being offered full-time position. By taking initiative will also show leadership, and that will say a lot when your manager is thinking about hiring someone. So whenever the opportunity presents itself, I will fully take advantage and take leadership, but at the same not stepping on someone with authority toes.

4) Setting Personal Goals - Next, I believe that setting personal goals is really important as well because you can have a bigger goal you want to achieve, but it is the personal goals / tangible goals that will lead up to that bigger goal. I will achieve this by increments of small goals that will lead up to make end goal, which is to being a full-timer at the company I am placed at. Also, I will set goals to achieve week by week, whether it will be expanding my network or to ask for more work.

5) Network, Network, Network - We all have heard the saying, "it is not what you know, it is who you know". This statement is very valid; by putting yourself out there in terms of meeting new people, you increase your chance of more opportunities. Whether there are company events, meetings, or anything that has to do with the company, I will be there. Especially if there is a sporting team, I would join it just to get to know my co-workers a little better.

6) Keep a Journal to Keep Track of Accomplishments - This is very important because if you are not logging what accomplishments you have made in your internship, you will have a hard time updating your resume. I will have a small notebook in my internship to keep track of everything I have done for the company, so I will not have a hard time later on updating my resume.

7) Set Regular Meetings With Your Manager - Setting regular meetings with your manager or having a weekly check-in is very significant. It is very significant because all managers will always be busy; with that said, this will give me a chance to receive feedback, and things I could do improve or even have a chance at a full-time offer. I will do this by checking in with my manager weekly, and have it inputted into his schedule.

8) Find a Mentor - Finding a mentor at the workplace is very essential; finding someone that will teach you what you need to know and answer any questions you have will definitely giving you a chance in being successful during internship. I will find a mentor by finding someone I have common ground with in this workplace and invite them to coffee to chat about work.

9) Enjoy Yourself and Don't be too Uptight - This to me seems like one of Year Up's Core Values, "Work Hard and Have Fun". I think this is very important because being uptight you are not really open minded, and by being open minded opens you up to new relationships and opportunities. I will demonstrate this in the workplace by giving my work 110% every time and come into work with a positive attitude.

10) Never Shun a Chance to Learn More About the Company - By not missing out on meetings,  conferences, and events, this shows a lot to the manager; also, it shows how dedicated you are and willing to know more about the company. This also relates to having an open mind because these are opportunities you should not miss because this will allow you to increase you knowledge on the company, network, and build relationships. I will try to  attend every meeting, social events, and even join the basketball team if they have one.

11)  Leave With Tangible Accomplishments - I put this almost last because it is similar to keeping a journal of your accomplishments. With that said, you should leave the company with significant accomplishments or things you have done for the company's benefit that will help you in the long run.

12) Get as Much Exposure as Possible - I put this last because it is similar to never shunning a chance to learn more about the company. I will put myself out there in terms of everyone who works around me know who I am in terms of the guy who is doing a great job. I will not only show up to networking events, but show my presence through the hard work and dedication I am putting in.

Works of the Past for a Better Future

The best job I have had was Champs Sports; it is mainly a shoe and apparel store. I have had plenty of responsibilities, but the ones that were primary was: greeting customers, pushing extra sales like shoe cleaners and apparel along with the purchase of shoes, and making sure the store was always clean and presentable.

What really made the job exhilirating was the people who I worked with; my co-workers were all around the same age as me, including my manager. When sales were slow, we would all just have fun and chat. The talking with customers from different countries were also great because San Francisco is such a tourist place, which was really great.

Since I was working in retail, that made me communicate a lot with different kinds of people. Having the courage to talk to strangers allowed me to improve by interpersonal communication skills that I can carry with me into internship. Also, by expressing my ideas in meetings that can potentially help sales grow, is another thing that I can bring to the internship. Just having that fresh mind filled with ideas I think will really help in wherever I will be placed at.

I learned that it was a fast-paced and competitive environment at Champs because if you were too slow to approach a customer you have lost your sale to another employee. By working there brought out my competitiveness. Not only do you have to work fast, but you have to be efficient as well.

Non-Fiction Book Review

To give a brief overview of the non-fiction book "Freakonomics", it is about series of events with statistics that compares two things you would never think have any relation. Unlike economics, which some may argue is a dry and uninteresting topic, the authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner looks at the hidden side of everything using the tools of economic research.

The authors wrote the book to explore the hidden side of everything. Whether it is teachers and sumo wrestlers cheating, the authors found out there was cheating involved by looking at statistics. A message that was being conveyed in the book was incentives. Everyone has an incentive. As for the school teachers changing the students answers for the standardized test, their incentives is seeing a bonus pay.

The last chapter in the book is what I found really interesting. It was unbelievable how names can can be perceived in a negative way. There was an example where they sent out two identical resumes to employers; one with a white name and the other with a more african american name. It was proven that the white name received more calls back. This stood out to me because it is really unfair, and the term equal opportunity is very misleading.

The book is very easy to understand and good for those who do not read often. I highly recommend the book because it touches topics that are interesting and viewed at different perspectives.

READONOMICS

Currently, I am reading a non-fiction book titled "Freakonomics", by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. I was never much of an avid reader growing up, it was almost immutable. Since being in Year Up, I decided to give reading a try again. The introduction of the book caught half of my attention, and if this were a reading in high school, I would have stopped for sure. But, I decided to keep on reading anyway. It turns out the book started to get more and more interesting to the point where I went beyond the required reading for the week. 


A strategy that I have found helpful for me is to just keep reading, and to not judge a book by the first chapter. At the same time, it helps to keep an open mind while reading, ask questions, or do any type of interaction with the book. I found that by asking questions or even wonder what will happen next helps a lot that will want me to continue reading. Also, by allowing yourself for at least twenty minutes a day to read will not hurt, and if you are commuting every morning you should use that time to read which has also helped me since I do not do anything on public transportation. 

By Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

To get a better understand of a book, I suggest reading the chapter twice. First, read it without annotating, but keep in mind the questions to keep that interaction alive. When you are reading the chapter the second time around, this is where you should be annotating. Again, this is a form of interaction with the book. I also find that when I am done reading a page, I sometimes do not get what I just read; I found that reading that page over again or even the page before helps a lot. 


I always found a problem with me committing to reading any book. As I mentioned earlier, that when I ride public transportation I am not doing anything but be on my phone. My commute usually takes about twenty minutes every day, and since I arrive early to Year Up everyday I usually continue my reading there until the day begins. When I started reading the first chapter, I got more and more hooked into the book because i can easily relate to some of the topics and most of them are just really interesting to read about. 

Oh, Beast City (Obesity)

The obesity rate amongst people in the United States are continuing to grow. The importance of living a healthy lifestyle can make one feel like a better person. Most importantly, it starts out with our eating habits and how often we exercise. This morning I read an article on SFGate regarding Richmond voters deciding to tax soda in the fall. The tax will include a penny-per-ounce surcharge; hence, offering a way to at least mitigate obesity. I am strong believer in diminishing the obesity rate.

There are tons of fast food restaurants everywhere, that tempts us to eat unhealthy. It all starts out with the unhealthy foods in these certain restaurants. Imagine the youth of our future, if the obesity rate keeps up, youth will be at higher risk for severe medical conditions.I think it is a very good idea that Richmond is going to take this step because soda lacks nutritional value; with that said, even a twinkie has some nutritional value. According to the article by Carolyn Jones, deaths can be prevented as well; a nation-wide soda tax much like Richmond would prevent 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes, and 26,000 deaths over the next decade according to a study by UCSF, San Francisco General Hospital, and Columbia University (Jones 2012).

The question ,"When should I start?" The answer is now. Proper dieting and exercise is the key to prevent obesity. Don't be a statistic, be healthy.

The Stigma through Music

Stigmas is existent in many societies whether it is our choice of music, clothing style or even the neighborhood we live in. One in particular that I would like to mention is the choice of music, Hip Hop & Rap. The issue around listening to those two genres is that you can be portrayed as a gangster, a violent person, and the issue of racism can occur. Lastly, you can be seen as someone who is uneducated.

No one should be judged for the choice of music they listen to but the content of ones character. Just because someone like to listen to Rap, they should not be portrayed as an uneducated individual. It is not fair for one to judge a person thinking they are violent just because the lyrics to a song is. Hip Hop and Rap should be thought of as a form of art.

I know if you are in a nice neighborhood and you are listening to your Rap music loud enough to for others nearby to hear, some peoples first thought may be that person is a gangster or a violent person. Whenever I walk around downtown San Francisco, there are a bunch of youth who may have the image of someone who may do harm. Some of these youth you will catch listening to their Rap music really loud and you can see people that are walking towards them move out the way as if the person listening to music may do harm. This is just an unfair judgement of people.

Many peoples beliefs is that Rap music is stigmatized as mindless music having no artistic or social value, when it can mean change for individuals who gone through same instances that some rappers have undergone. I just know that some people just like the stories being told in a creative way or with a catchy beat.

What I am doing to repair this stigma is proving those who judge wrong by being successful in Year Up. So far I am proving the stigma wrong because I listen to Hip Hop and Rap and I just appreciate its art form. Bottom line to this stigma is to never judge a book by its cover.

I Pledge..

I, Christopher Anonuevo PLEDGE to complete all assigned tasks on time in the internship and learning and development phase.
   
     How Measured: When assigned a task, I will make sure to not procrastinate and start it right away.

I PLEDGE to give my best work all the time.

     How Measured: Instead of always rushing my work, I will dedicate at least 3-4 hours of studying and take    
     my time on my work.

I PLEDGE to come Year Up / My internship while maintaining a positive professional attitude.

     How Measured: I will wake up everyday on time, eat breakfast, and come ready to learn and execute
     tasks.

I am writing this pledge to have it published to better myself and to hold myself accountable for my mistakes. This is like a contract for myself.

Change for the Better

Growing up in the heart of the Fillmore, in San Francisco, California, the neighborhood I lived in was really run down and where police sirens seemed to be frequent as Muni or the bus line. My neighborhood was considered to be ghetto and dangerous. There is a park right next to my complex where you would see homeless people living there, and it was very unsanitary. Also, there was chipped paint everywhere and you would feel unsafe just walking to the corner store. Although there may be a bunch of negative aspects, it is where I am from, and I believe there could be changes that can be made for the better.

I am who I am despite the neighborhood I lived in because I always kept a positive attitude. At the age of fourteen I was working at an after school program, where I mentored youth from elementary to middle school while being on the basketball team at Galileo High School. Although I was in a bad neighborhood, I did not let negative influences affect me. I think over the past couple years my neighborhood has undergone gentrification. There was a stretch when I was younger, where my family and I had to stay with my grandparents because the apartment complex I stayed at went under renovation. As you can see, on the above picture, that is how my complex looks like today. There is no longer any chipped paint, a new playground, and even added another building in the complex for the local community to use. On Octavia street, which is not too far from where I live is proof of gentrification. They have added a more community friendly park and even added trees. The bottom line is that my neighborhood is making changes for the better, which is good.

Real San Franciscans..

This morning I came across a blog on SF GATE. The title of the post was "Real San Franciscans.." which features a slideshow which captions "You know you are a real San Franciscan if.." then each slide will have a caption say for example, if you know there is a curvier street on Vermont. I just thought it was interesting and funny for some of the slides they showed. There was one that said you know you are a San Franciscan if you ignore the GPS to go on Van Ness st. I found that funny because Van Ness street is always busy and I always try to avoid Van Ness. The blog post also mentioned that you are a  San Franciscan if you know secret spots for great views, the picture above is my secret spot. Enjoy!

SUNday

Last night and early this morning was very ugly and rainy, but it turns out Sunday lived by its name. It was quite a beautiful day today. Woke up, went to get Pho at Turtle Tower and since it was a lovely day, I thought of going to play basketball at the local park. Above is the photo.

Goals for this week:

• Start reading "The Hunger Games"
• Need new book
• Eat out less
• Continue to be physically active 3-4 days a week
• Win our first basketball game as a Year Up team (Next Game)

Got a lot to look forward to this week. All though I have more goals, I would like to mention my focuses for this week. As for those who would like to support your fellow colleagues, we would be having games every Monday and Wednesday. If you are interested in watching please feel free to contact me. 

Tricked by the System

                                    

Advertisements are everywhere nowadays from our phones, television, or the internet. But with all advertisements or commercials, there is always a targeted audience. For example, the Super Bowl commercials  mostly consists of alcohol and the targeted audience is mostly male adults who watch football. The methods that usually catch my attention are the funny ones, or the ones with the catchy slogans. One example I can think of is the Energizer Bunny. Their slogan is "keeps going, and going, and going.." and everyone remembers that, and whenever you do buy batteries it is stored in your head without you even knowing it. The slogan is implying that the battery lasts long, which is pretty catchy. Also, commercials that have songs are also good forms of advertisements that catches my attention. Even if the commercial does not apply to you, it stays in the back of your head, or at least know what is being advertised.

One easy form of advertisement and is very common is the celebrity in the advertisement. Above I have the famous rapper Drake, who was featured in a Sprite commercial. I would say this is the most easiest form of advertisement because Drake has a huge fan base. If he is drinking Sprite, I can bet a ton that a bunch of his fans will start to buy Sprite. I think that the succinct advertisements are more effective. The more straight to the point ones are the ones I pay most attention to like the don't drink and drive ads because it usually states a fact. With that said, all advertisements come in many forms and tend to catch our attention whether we like it or not.

"Apply Yourself to Supply Your Wealth"

Earlier today I caught this line, "Apply Yourself to Supply Your Wealth" in a song I was listening to.
The first thing that came to  mind was, if you wanted to reach a goal, its up to you to apply yourself
to reach it. Random thoughts.

Why does it seem..

Why does it seem like the weekend goes by so fast? My weekend was very boring, but I took advantage of the time to catch up on some sleep. If I was not sleeping, I was watching a movie or making some food. This weekend I watched: The Dark Knight, The Grey, The Expendables, X-Men: First Class, Captain America, The Immortals, and Lion King with my seven month old sister.

Some goals I have for this week:
- Sleep early, and try to get a good nights rest.
- Do not be late to Year Up.
- Participate more in class and as a Learning Community.
- Earn no infractions.
- Be mentally prepared throughout the week.

Other than these goals, I am looking forward to this week and to see the rapper Kendrick Lamar in concert this Wednesday evening.

The New Me

As I was growing up I felt more and more shy, away from the World, but now being apart of Year Up Class 8, everything is going to change. Instantly, I pushed myself the first day of orientation. I walked through the door, and pushed myself to meet new people and actually have a conversation. This opened up a story of success for me and many goals.

Goals

• CNIT100 - I would like to learn how to troubleshoot every problem and get a job in this field.
• This goal will be achieved by showing up to class everyday and being engaged in class for every lesson.

• Business Comm. - In this area, I would like to improve my grammar and comprehension.
• This goal can be achieved by participating more in class, asking questions, practicing reading, and taking notes.

•  Pro Skills - I am going to learn the unwritten rules in a professional environment.
• In this class, I am going to keep an open mind and grasp everything that is being taught.

• Blog -  My goal for this blog is to have a bunch of followers and to express my thoughts.
• This can be achieved by trying to make my posts humorous, relative to others, and add a bit of my personality into the mix.