Office Space

I probably would have learned a vast more amount of usable knowledge this semester, had my Intro to Business course not been so focused on Blackboard. Essentially, Blackboard allows for participating in group discussions with classmates, taking quizzes, links to external articles, really as much as the instructor wishes to use its features. With the college pushing its use, it is becoming more common as each semester passes here. Being that our class PowerPoint was always available through it, I had no reason to spend an absurd amount of money on the required course texts, only to later hassle with buybacks and a ridiculous depreciation.

My instructor was a wealth of knowledge, with government work experiences of all sorts, and I was intrigued with his lectures. However, his approach to assignments, recommended and encouraged by the college, was simply flawed. Blackboard allowed students like myself, who want to excel but with as little effort as possible, to slip through the system. So while I managed to not read a single page of the required course text, I have still earned an A in the class.

Our final exam was to respond to questions linking business theories to concepts from the film Office Space. Similarly to how I slipped through the system, Peter spent hours out of his work day staring at his desk, unproductive and dissatisfied. Yet, he managed a job promotion by the consultants that were brought in to terminate any employees not essential to the business operation.

I came to find my appreciation for the course through a resemblance between the character of Peter and myself. Peter recalled being asked as a kid if he had a million dollars, what he would do with it, essentially knowing that he would never have to work again. He was told that whatever his answer, that was what he was to become. However, he was never able to come up with a good enough answer until he worked at Initech. He would do nothing.

Besides doing two chicks at once, cause girls dig guys with money, I would spend days riding my bike. I'd travel the midwest, running the most awe-inspiring trails, only to set out and venture somewhere new the next day. I'd be strong as a bull in the sport, and my competitors would fear me.

If I had a million dollars I'd be doing exactly what I love. So that is what I am setting out to do. I won't let my time pass me by in a corner cubicle office job, with a circulated forced air system and fake plants by the xerox machine.

It's a simple concept to ask yourself. So why aren't you doing it?

breaking a silence

English composition, amongst several other courses I took while enrolled in the university, proved to be challenging. It was the guidelines of each writing assignment which I found most arduous.

"Today we will start our third paper," Cloud would say, in a tone of pure excitement. "It is to be no less than six pages..."

I suffered at the sounds of those words, and judging by the expressions of my classmates, so did they. There was a reason we were placed into ENG 110, the lower of the first of two semesters of composition, and it wasn't cause of our pure excitement!

One could say that writing was not a skill of mine, nor something I even felt comfortable doing. People are quick to judge, and I thought the same about readers. I had no idea what separated an accomplished writer from a sham, and I was fearful of being ranked.

Exactly four years later since passing that semester of composition, I am now comfortable in my words. I have the sudden urge to write, as if life's experiences are more valued through this medium.

Through my blog, I wish to describe and interpret the emotions I incur through training and racing, and all other aspects of life. As I make an effort to rise to the top, I hope I can share the heightened emotions that result from hard work and dedication.