It's Time For Class

Well it's about that time for spring semester 2023 to start. After the holiday class will be in session. I finally decided to just take one class again. With my busy schedule from work I think that one class is a wise choice to make. I don't want to over due it and not do well in class. Don't know how I am feeling about this but I have only four classes left in order to graduate. I am not talking in a bad way, its more of I started school in 2018 and been going to school since then. Now with almost all classes are done what to do next. I just been in my regular routine, so I been thinking about doing a duel major and taking more classes after I graduate. I know its probably to early to think about what to do next. Before you know it I will be graduating  and haven't even thought of my next move. Well I am excited to say that I will be starting class on Wednesday. It will be two days a week 11am - 2pm. Hope you have a  wonderful week. 

    

Happy New Year

Its been two weeks since our last class and it still hasn't sunken in that we will no longer have IS101 with Professor Wu. For me I am so glad to have taken this class and mastered MO-100, MO-200, MO-300 and gotten my badges. My next adventures has taken me to a program similar to word and excel. Even though I have to put in time like I did in IS101 in the end it will be worth it. I have no idea where this will take me but I am hoping to be working from home more than usual. To all you that had taken IS101 with Professor Wu I just want to wish you and your family a safe and happy new year. 

Farewell IS101

It has come to this, the final days of IS101. Can't believe the end is here. How time flies when you are having fun. This is far the best class that I have taken. From Professor Wu and all his support and time he has put into each and everyone of us to my peers. Just wanted to say Happy holidays to everyone from my family to yours. Have a happy and safe New Year. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQzdAsjWGPg

6.6.4 SmartArt and Shape Facts

When creating a PowerPoint presentation adding shapes, smart arts, charts, and even tables can make your presentation more appealing to the audience. It would capture there attention to focus on your slides. Making your slides easy to follow and read for audience will help them remember your presentation. It doesn't have to be over whelming with features but having one or two does help making your slide get across to your audience. 

SHAPES - can help you draw attention to a certain point on your presentation. You can also add animation to the shape too.

SMART ART - can help your audience see the steps your are trying to convey to them. You can turn bullet point to smart art

CHARTS - is a good way to show the data you have collected. Using the right chart may take a little more time for you to master. 

TABLES - help organized data to be able to be understand. 

Here are some other facts to help you understand a little bit more from LabSim 

  Image 1: Insert Tab Groups

Table 1: Table & Illustration Features

FEATURES/TERMS

DESCRIPTION

1. Table

Tables organize data into a more readable and easier to comprehend format. The Table tool on the Insert tab provides an easy-to-use grid to define the initial table dimensions. If you don't know exactly what the dimensions of your table need to be, you can always insert additional rows and columns later.

2. Shapes

Shapes are often used in PowerPoint presentations to point out or draw attention to specific information. For example, an arrow or star shape. To create a shape, click Shapes in the Illustrations group. Click and drag to create the shape size you want. To create a circle, a square, or another regular shape, hold down the Shift key while clicking and dragging.

3. SmartArt

Using SmartArt is one of the best ways to visually represent ideas. SmartArt is commonly used to show steps in a process, to demonstrate connections, or to visually organize information that isn't organized sequentially. To select a piece of SmartArt, click SmartArt in the Illustrations group.

4. Chart

Charts are an excellent way to visually organize data. With a chart, it is easy to show trends, patterns, and relationships. Choose a chart type by clicking Chart in the Illustrations group.

Excel Printing Features

When someone says to you, "print me out this spreadsheet". The unexperienced Excel users will usually think ok just hit print. Not realizing you can do a lot of adjustment while on the backstage printing page. What I mean is that, you can set printer selection, sheet selection, paper sides, paper collation, paper orientation, paper size, margin settings, and scaling options. That's just in the backstage view of printer tab. Even inside Excel under the Page Layout tab you can make adjustment with print area and print titles. We wont get into it with those two option cause that takes more of an understanding of Excel. So what's to know about the backstage view of printer page is;

PRINTER SELECTION - in some office setting they're could be more than one printer that you could be printing out on. Like a plain black and white or a colored printer

SHEET SELECTION - you can choose to print out the whole workbook or just certain pages from the workbook that you need.

PAPER SIDES - one of the features on a newer printer will be if you want to print out on both sides of the paper. 

PAPER COLLATION - is another feature on most printer you have to know how you want your print to come out. would you like it to come out with pages 1,2,3, or 1,1,1 then 2,2,2, etc. even some printers will even staple it for you.

PAPER ORIENTATION - how do you want your paper to print out the long side of the paper going vertically up an down (portrait) or long side on top and bottom going horizontal (landscape) 

PAPER SIZE - every printer will have different trays to hold different sizes of paper from legal to letter.  It may have just one type of paper but will your spreadsheet fit on that paper? 

MARGIN SETTINGS - you can change the margins of a printout but you should customizes them on the margins tab in Excel 

SCALING OPTIONS - this options is so you can shrink or enlarge your print to fit on one page depending on the size but that's you to you. 

Here is some additional information from LabSims you can look at

Table 3: Excel Printing Features

FEATURES/TERMS

DESCRIPTION

1. Info & Properties

The properties of a workbook provide metadata—information that describes the document. This information includes the document title, author name, subject, and keywords that identify the contents of the file. To modify a document's properties, go to the Info tab of the Backstage view and click on the property you want to edit.

2. Printer Selection

You may already be connected to more than one printer; for example, the printer you use at school and the printer you use at home. The default printer will be displayed by name under Printer, but you can easily select a non-default printer to use. To select a non-default printer, simply select the printer from the Printer drop-down list (you may need to add the printer to your computer's configuration first).

3. Sheet Selection

By default, Excel will print only the active worksheet, which is usually the worksheet that is currently displayed in your workspace. But if needed, you can choose to print all worksheets in the workbook or even a particular selection of cells.

4. Paper Sides

If your printer supports double-sided printing, you have two options for how it can print: flipping the paper on the short edge or on the long edge. If your printer does not support double-sided printing, you can select the option to manually print on both sides, which requires you to manually flip and reload the paper into the printer.

5. Paper Collation

By default, Excel prints collated copies of your worksheet, which is usually the best choice. If you have a multiple-page worksheet that you are printing for six peers to review, the default collated option will keep each copy of the worksheet together, rather than printing page one six times, page two six times, page three six times, and so on.

6. Paper Orientation

There are two types of page orientation. Excel's default page orientation setting is Portrait, where the long edge of the paper is vertical, but worksheets can also be printed in Landscape orientation, where the long edge of the paper is horizontal. Page orientation settings can also be found on the Page Layout tab.

7. Paper Size

Most worksheets can be printed on the standard 8.5" x 11" paper size. However, large data sets may call for other options, such as the 8.5" x 14" legal size.

8. Margin Settings

A margin is the amount of space between the text and the edge of the paper. Excel's default margin style is Normal, which leaves a 0.7 inch space between the text and each edge of the paper. You can customize the margin style on the Page Layout tab by clicking Margins.

8. Scaling Options

Depending on how much data your worksheet contains, you may choose to scale the content to fit on one page. You can also choose to shrink the printout so none of the rows extend beyond one page high or so none of the columns extend beyond one page wide.

Image 3: Page Setup Group on Page Layout Tab

Table 2: More Excel Print Features

FEATURES/TERMS

DESCRIPTION

1. Print Area

Because many worksheets contain a large amount of data, Excel allows you to define a print area, which is the selection of cells that you wish to print. When printing a worksheet, you can choose to ignore the print area. To clear the print area, click Print Area > Clear Print Area.

2. Print Titles

The Print Titles button opens a dialog box where you can specify which rows or columns you would like repeated on each page.

Selecting a Printer

When its time to select a printer you have to understand a few facts of a printer before you purchase one. So some of the fact that you should be looking into is size, capacity, speed, quality, and the cost. These are what I think are very important to look at first before deciding on what printer would work for you. I own a few printers and found this out by trial and error. So lets got through this to get a better understanding.

SIZE - Looking into the size of a printer may help you what direction you would have to lean into when and where your printer will be located. Will it be on a table/desk or a stand alone system. How much room do you have to spare?

CAPACITY - How much are you going to use the printer? Do you have to print out 100's of paper for school or work? Or is it you are just printing out 20 per week? If it just a few pages a week then the paper capacity doesn't have to be extremely large.

SPEED - How fast do you need these pages to print out? If speed doesn't matter to you this might help you on the cost of the printer. The faster you want it to print the more expensive the printer will get.

QUALITY - This is for me is about how my pages turns out. Just because you have a cheap printer that doesn't matter so long the prints are very clean/legible. 

COST - Is something you would have to do your research on. Yes laser printers are more expensive up front but inkjet printers in the long run are more expensive to maintain. You also have to look into the cost of the ink or toner and how often you would have to replace them. 

Here is same additional information from LabSim 2.1.10 to get a better understanding of some fact you should consider.

Inkjet

Inkjet printers spray small dots of ink from an ink reservoir onto a sheet of paper. Inkjet printers can produce high-quality output and are relatively inexpensive to purchase. However, they have several disadvantages.

• Replacement ink cartridges are expensive.
• Ink cartridges have limited print capacities.
• The ink tends to bleed into the paper.
• Prints tend to fade over time.
• The ink will run if it gets wet, unless special water-resistant ink is used.

Laser

Laser printers use electrical charges and heat to fuse tiny plastic particles (called toner) to the paper. Laser printers have the following advantages over other types of printers:

• They produce higher-quality print output.
• They can print documents much faster.
• They are ideal for large volume print jobs.
• Replacement toner cartridges are more economical than inkjet cartridges.
• They are better suited for sharing over a network.
• The ink is waterproof and doesn't fade.
• The output doesn't bleed into the paper.

Laser printers have the following disadvantages:

• They are more expensive to purchase.
• They are more difficult to maintain.

I Feel Good

Well today was a great day. Even though I spent most of the day in front of the computer. I was finishing up on my Form B for the MO-300 after scoring an 86%. I reached out to Professor Wu that I would be ready to take the MO-300. He was ecstatic about that and told me to do A.4 so it can better prepare me for the test. Well while I was doing prep for A.2 (yes I said A.2) I had inform him its gonna take me a lot longer than I had planned. Come to find out I was doing the wrong section I needed to do. After completing the correct work. I proceeded to take the MO-300. I was stressing out because I knew you had only 2 minutes to spend on each question. I had an issue with one in particular and killed a bunch of time. Coming to the end of the test I only had seconds to spare. I believe I only answered the first question of the last section and I had to hit the submit button cause time was gonna run out. All that was playing in my head was that in class Professor was saying no one ever fails this test. I was thinking to myself OMG am I going to be the first failure. Professor came on and was giving me the speech of its ok you can try again. When the test score come back with a pass we both was in amazed that I had just passed and not even answering the last section. Hell ya I just passed the MO-300. So my girlfriend and I went to celebrate with buying Christmas decoration for her apartment which is a huge plus. She's all alone here and she wasn't in the holiday spirit. We went to Bellagio to see the Christmas decorations and now we are decorating for Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmU16BbDmNM

Step Back

Have you ever took a step back for a minute to wonder what are you doing with your life. I believe I have couple of times but never took it to consideration of what to do next. Not until last year when I lost my step father he was only 68. We never was on the same page (butting heads). I don't mean this to be a sad blog or for you to feel sorry for me but kind of want you to open your eyes. I just turned 42 that year. Two days later I get a phone call from my mom saying he wasn't feeling good and she was driving him to the hospital. She had also asked me to come keep her company so she wasn't alone. It was like she knew something was up cause this was the first time she had asked me to come to the hospital. They have gone there many of times and they would be out within the hour with medication in hand. As I was making my way down to the hospital (2 exit away) my phone was ringing, it was mom. She's crying saying he's gone. I was like "what do you mean he's gone". That's all she could say and was repeating herself, "he's gone he's gone". My mom had one more year to retire with her husband. She was a single mother raising 2 kids. I was 11 when my parents divorce. She did all that hard work and now she's doesn't have her husband. So from that day I took a step back and looked at my life and asked myself, "what am I doing"? All I am doing is working hard and going to school. Yes we all still need a job to pay bill but if you cant enjoy life with your other half or the special people in your life are you really living life? So I've decided to scale back a little bit and enjoy what life has to offer. I've been going to concerts, Raider games, VGK games, and surrounding myself with the people that makes me happy. Yes I will still work all of my jobs and finish my school but also will make time for the people in my life. What I saw when I took a step back is that tomorrow is not a guarantee but you can always look forward to tomorrow, cause when you wake up you know you have another day. Make the best of your life, take a step back and evaluate your life. It took me 42 years to do it, I wish I would of done it sooner.

Educated

 When I was in high school I never had good grades. I really didn't pay much attention in class. Do I regret not being educated. Not really, the path that my life's journey has taken me to another form of education. I did learn how to become a server, then a bartender, an auto mechanic, and also a welder. My education journey was more of a hands on training. Let it be a trade or a hospitality training I was still getting my education. No I didn't get a fancy degree or a certificate, but I did get the knowledge and skills to perform those jobs. Some people say that they would do a redo of there life knowing what they know now. Makes you wonder if you redid your life with the knowledge you have. Would it be better or would it be worst? Just because some of us don't have a High school diploma or a college degree doesn't mean we are not educated. Yes knowledge is power, and the more you know the better off you will be.

When It Rains It Pours

When I started this class I didn't know what really to expect. Then I found my groove and was so far ahead that nothing could stop me. So I had thought. From the time I went on vacation till now I haven't been able to keep up with my studies. Work has become more demanding of me and big boss man said, "we are not slowing down". Which is always great to have work but if that's all your doing is it worth it. Since work has been more demanding, I ended up getting sick. I had no energy to get out of bed. Sleep was not a thing cause of tossing and turning and fevers at night. Trying to eat before taking your medications, ya sure no appetite. That's where the saying comes in, "when it rains it pours". With a little rain it turns into pouring rain, meaning when my issues started it was minor then grew into something bigger. When will it stop only time can tell.

Overload

There is a reason to my madness of work but did I think it was gonna get this crazy, no  I didn't. Worked 11 straight days and at 3 different properties. This didn't even included my full time job that was calling me into work for uncovered shifts. Meanwhile will with any little spare time to do homework. I sucked it up an prepared to do my best. Going from early starts to late night I didn't really have time to eat. The one thing I had told myself was never miss school. Talked to the big boss man and he said "I am sorry but we need everyone that day". I asked to show up late but was then denied. That Saturday I found out why he needed everyone there. We was holding the Concord De Elegance Car Show which is one of the prestige car shows you can enter a vehicle in. Some people said they was invited in and some had to pay a big purse to enter. Cars from the 1920 to brand new exotics to one of a kind to cars in movies. This was one in the books for me. It took us 3 days to setup 30 bars and 4 bars was in the middle of the golf course. Yes you guessed it we didn't have any golf cart to transport anything out there. All we had was push cart and flatbed carts. My body was hurting after the break down of all the bars. Of course we had to take everything back once the show was done. I am so glad that I get the next 2 days off. Is it a day off when you are trying to play catch up.

We All Have A Story

Have you heard the term, " never judge a book by its cover". This blog is about people in general. Everyone has a story but are we willing to read the book or just the chapter or neither. You can relate the book being about the persons life and the chapter be years, months, weeks, or just days. Getting to know a person before you pass judgement maybe time consuming but just knowing or reading a page or two might give you a better perspective on how or why they are the way they are at the moment. I do fault myself at this at times. For the most part I try not to pass judgement on people before I get to know them. My book is still in the work and it's a very interesting to read. All in all is that before you pass judgement on a person read a page or two, so you have a better understanding of there life. 

Going On Vacation With No Homework

For some of you may not know this about me is that I was never a school kind of guy. I had bad grades and I hardly ever showed up for class. After getting my GED in 2014 (18yrs later) I decided to go back to get my education. After raising a family and having work experience I knew I had to be focused and dedicated to get good grades. Being almost done with all my classes I went on vacation, but because I was so far ahead I was instructed to enjoy my family and not to do homework. The accomplishment that I have done was rewarding. I was able to spend time with my family and not stress about having to do homework. Cause I set my standards so high I felt like I missed a whole week of school. Yes I did bring my laptop and yes I did try to do homework (10 comments on blogger), but I was on vacation and I was told no homework while I was away. It felt so good that I didn't have to worry about homework the only thing that was bugging me was work. They was trying to get me to come in, and I even have a new place texting me for side work. All in all my vacation was amazing with no homework I just felt like I missed a week of school.

Printing Files

I am an old school kind of guy. What I mean by that is I like to have a hard copy in my hand. This is where we are able to print files to be able for quick reviews of something that is more portable than a desktop or a laptop or even a tablet. Not every employer will give there staff a tablet to go to work with. So printing out a brief description of your job duties will come in handy. Imagine trying to remember 20 to do thing for your whole day, if not always running to a near by office to see what is the next thing on your to do list. Having a printed copy of the list that your able to fold, crumble, tear up, and mark on is way better and cost efficient for employers.

Vegas Strong

5 years ago on this very day Vegas had one of the worst tragedy that happen in the city. For some of you that doesn't know what happen. The Route 91 shooting happened. What is it, a gun man from the top floor of Mandalay Bay opened fire on concert goers at The Route 91 Festival. 58 people had fallen from this tragedy. This was a little close to me cause I had family and friends that was attending and working the festival. As shots rang out chaos broke out, people was diving for cover. I don't mean for this to be a sad blog but this is a day we will never forget. The stories I have heard from people and how it changed there lives made me think about mines. We are Vegas Strong and will  keep moving forwards. Please take a moment on this day to honor the innocent people that lost there lives at Route 91, and remember we are Vegas Strong.

Digital Communication

We are in a time where we all are using some form of digital communication. Let it be email, text message or even watching a YouTube video. I choose this topic cause as technology evolves, us as in humans really depend on digital communication, I know I do. I do use my phone more than a laptop or computer but after taking this class I think my computer usage has almost surpass my phone usage. Just kidding I still use my phone for everything except for this class. From getting my work schedule to online banking to paying bills to short texts message from my family in Hawaii or North Carolina. Its very convenient and super fast. I think its great that we can send messages across the world and it get to the recipient in matter of seconds. I tend to use my phone for everything, so there is one thing I have to worry about and it was one of our topics in class. The infamous SSO, I can admit if something was to happened to my phone I would be lost for a bit, but still can manage to communicate. That's why I always carry a pen and paper with me, just in case I have to send a paper message (just kidding). Yes digital communication is everywhere no matter if you think you don't use them. You have been in some form or another.

Time Management

 A fellow classmates was wondering, how much time do I study. First you have to understand I only have one class this semester, but to answer that question I put in 10-20 hours of homework. I do this in 2-3 days. The reason why I have to is, that my time is very limited on what I have to use it on. I do work for 6 different casino and try to have a life. With that being said I try to get all my work done on days that I am not schedule to work. Even though I think I have the day off I can get called into work from my other job. So I do try to manage my time very wisely. This pass week I only had one day off and spent it most of the time doing homework. I even had to fit a concert I had bought months ago in to the schedule. I also understand what is important, work, school, play time in that order. Last night a lot of my friends was trying to get me to go out for my birthday. Even though it was my birthday I still understood, I still have homework to do and school in the morning. If I went out, my homework wouldn't be done and the one thing I was afraid of was not making it to class. So managing my time is very important to me. I never know when I will have free time to do anything outside my schedule. Look at the bigger picture, when I graduate I will have more time to do whatever I want to do.

Hard Work Pays Off

Today was the second day of class. Knowing the fact that we had a bonus question quiz, I really wanted to do well. After the big work load we had the first week. I just wanted to answer the question to the best of my knowledge. Just banging out as much homework as I can handle, right before my crazy work schedule. I wasn't expecting to hear that I had the highest score in what, I cant remember. There is a huge party in my head that I even lost my train of thought and didn't remember what it was for. For me to hear something like this is a huge accomplishment for me. I never thought I was good enough for school. I always push myself to increase my education and to prove that I belong here. A huge thank you to professor Wu for answering all my question and even doing a WebEx while he was out at dinner. I am so happy right now I am even shaking. Eyes are getting watery knowing the fact that hard work pays off.

First impression of IS101

Today was my first day in IS101. I was really nervous to start this class cause from what I have heard about this class from other students. I was told if I didn't know much about computers that I would have a difficult time. After talking to Professor Wu on WebEx, he assured me that I would be very successful if I applied the work and time in this class. After the first day of school in class I see that this class was to help us learn about how to use and master the MOS. I wish I knew what IS101 was about before taking a few of my other classes cause this would have helped me out. All in all I should have done my research and check out the layout of the class in stead of listening to other students that gave me the wrong impression of IS101.