CLASSES & JOBS

George Eliot once quipped, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” We all have difficult people in our lives - some a little harder to bear than others. Likely, you know a roommate or co-worker who should wear this quote as a sign to tape his or her mouth safely shut. Each of us puts a foot in the mouth now and then, but some could use their shoelaces as daily floss, they spend so much time in that predicament.

What’s the best way to react to these blunders or faux pas? It may depend on your relationship to the person, or the title they hold at your place of employment. In my experience, it is always the best policy to not “hear” these slip-ups. It may take incredible will-power to keep mum, and you may even take out a chunk of your lip biting down to keep back a laugh, but it will pay off in the end. Keeping good relations with those you spend the bulk of your time with is always in your best interest.

Isn’t it great how music can influence your mood? I absolutely LOVE music. I’ve always been really into the alternative rock, punk, popular hits and lately I’ve gotten into emo and indie-type music. Emo is basically short for emotion, for those who didn’t know. As you guessed, emo is very emotion-filled. Indie, as far as I know, means independent, like independent artist (not signed yet with a record label).

Growing up, my mom had me take piano lessons from age 8 until I was 16 or 17, when I finally refused to take any more lessons. Learning how to read music has been a great talent. You never know when someone will be in a bind and need a pianist (it’s happened a ton in my life!). My piano teachers had me learn the classical music and I grew to appreciate the masters of the art. To this day, I can still play piano pretty well and love to incorporate emotion into my music (playing faster or slower, louder or softer, emphasize certain notes so they create a melody, add notes to make harmony, etc).

Music sets the tone in movies, whether it be romantic, scary, funny, or drama. The background music is often unnoticed but essential to help create the mood a movie producer wants the viewer to feel.

If you really love music, why not look into getting a college degree with music as your major? There are plenty of career options these days where a musician can succeed in life. So take the plunge! If that’s what you love, then make a life out of it.

Since I grew up taking piano lessons, I already have a plan to teach piano to children when I get better established in life. I want that to become a side job that helps bring in money for my family, but also gives me a chance to help the community and kids thirsting for talent.

Follow your dreams, see where they take you. Enjoy life. Try to not stress over the bumps along the way. I think music always helps me correct my mood. If I’m angry or upset, I change my mood with some relaxing and upbeat music. I think people don’t realize how much of an effect music has in our lives. It’s time to be aware.

Let the posting begin! While I’ve been attempting to make our new site look “pretty”, Margo is already off to a roaring start with three posts! Marci, Aubrey and I are going to have to try and catch up next week with our writing. I’m sure by then something funny will have happened around here - it always does. And, yes, all of you lucky readers (there are anywhere between 0 and 1 of you so far) will be first to hear about it! I hope everyone has a great weekend! I’m taking off and I’ll be back on Monday - hopefully with a slightly darker tan…

Thanks to the forward-thinking of men like Henry Ford, we have products available for consumption in every market imaginable. Assembly lines allow the manufacture of items from A to Z and then some. If you can think of a use for it, a market for it, and a way to advertise it, you can be sure your invention or product will go far in our commercial society.

Many others have made contributions to aid mass production. Ford may have put the concept to work on a grand scale, but Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi also used the fundamental idea of manufacture and assembly to create an army of clay soldiers to accompany the emperor in his burial. Known as the Terracotta Army, the pieces of each warrior and horse were produced individually, and later combined into a whole, which reflected the scale of an actual soldier and his mount. It must have been quite a sight.

Such feats are not possible without some drive and know-how. The society we live in makes progress much easier when you have an education behind you. Taking courses will broaden your mind and make you much more marketable to the business world. Who knows? Perhaps you are the next Henry Ford in the making-apply yourself and find out.

The guy I have on the phone is killing me right now… He just told me that he thinks he is “definitely computer literate”. But I would argue that point with him. He lost the argument when I had to tell him, “You get to the internet by clicking on the big, blue, lower-case E.” That is how I know he lost.

You may have the best idea the world has ever known, but if you cannot get it to the people, or to business owners, it will not have a chance to succeed. However, that is what advertising and marketing are all about, and knowing how to use these tools can take you-and your idea-to undreamed of heights. Learn how to appeal to the people and how to reach them, and watch your idea soar.

Two changes brought about the start of advertising: the masses learning how to read, and the appearance of Gutenberg’s printing press. Marvelous knowledge was disseminated by the arrival of this player on the scene of history. It is human nature to have a thirst for more, and the drought of information could now be quenched because of movable type. No need to painstakingly copy by hand. Just set the type-and print-and you have an information explosion.

A second step toward modern-day marketing came when the lithograph was born. This process allowed copies of art to be made for mass consumption. Close on the heels of this invention was chromolithography, which, as its name implies, allows the manufacture of works with many colors. Add to this the artist movement known as poster art, and a current advertising method came to be, and with time, came of age.

Improve your visibility and marketability by taking courses toward a degree of your choice. Truly, knowledge is power, and knowing how to work within the advertising framework will allow you to market your idea or invention to countless customers. Become your dream-get a degree and conquer the (advertising) world!

How often do we think of the everyday items we use that make our lives easier? An instrument as simple as a ball-point pen was at one time a new invention, and a much needed improvement to the old quill and ink. Such items-and the knowledge it takes to produce them-gives greater ease and speed to our tasks.

Such convenience items, if you will, would not be possible without the men and women who were the visionaries of their times. Some learned by careful study and annotation, like Madame Curie, others by trial and error, as evidenced by the contributions of Einstein, or Alexander Graham Bell. Still others were partners in science, as shown by the contributions of lesser-known physicist Lise Meitner in her role in the discovery of nuclear fission. Many more, like Louis Pasteur and Mendelson learned and made improvements by their hands-on methods. Whatever the approach, learning was paramount to their discoveries and to the difference these made to our day and age.

These days an education is more important than ever to get to where you want to go. Courses are available where you can learn by doing; other subjects are best taught by patient accumulation of facts and data. Make your mark in the field of your choice: get an education and use it to take you to the heights you dream of –you can achieve them!