Hot Chocolate..mmmmmmm or Irish Coffee ?

It was cold today. I started thinking about hot chocolate. mmmmmmmm..... My dad gave me and my wife some homemade hot chocolate mix a couple of years back. It was pretty good stuff. All gone. But I really remember going down to River Street on a cold rainy morning one weekend and sitting in Kevin Barry's by the window with a nice hot Irish Coffee. It is really hard to say which was better. I suppose I could have a nice hot Irish Coffee Mocha and have both worlds. Nah... I will just have one on one day, then have the other on a different day. That way they will both be special in their own way.

If you would like to find out whats happening on River Street ... http://www.riverstreetsavannah.com/

If you are curious where Kevin Barry's is then check out their site at http://www.kevinbarrys.com/

Oh, and if you are interested in the history of hot chocolate then check out this web site. It gives the history and some recipes too. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/HotChocolate.htm

Aerospace Industry is Alive and well :)

This week I learned that the Aerospace industry is still alive and well.

Here in Savannah, Gulfstream just posted record earnings for last year. http://www.gulfstream.com/ / http://www.generaldynamics.com/ )

See the article from the Savannah Morning News ( http://savannahnow.com/node/436325 ) For class I had to look up an article related to my field, so I chose to look at the Department of Labor outlook for the industry. They also predict good things for the aerospace industry. http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/print/cgs006.htm/cg/print/cgs006.htm

Hard to believe with the price of aviation fuel going up. I checked here in Savannah, Full service for Jet fuel is as high as $7.11 per gallon. Imagine if you had to pay that for your car. Whew..... here check it out for yourself. http://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html

Designing usable information

This week we are also looking at designing usable information. You always want to get your facts straight and use an active voice whenever possible. This fellow is listening for an active voice. Boy, I'm glad I don't have to wear those.

Technology that we use most...

Everyone talks about the technology that they like such as their new cell phone or laptop computer, or their MP3 player .... but I also want to remind folks that the most used piece of newer technology that they use got its start in the 1950's ... the remote control . http://www.zenith.com/sub_about/about_remote.html I really like mine. I just have to make sure my kids don't leave it out for the dog to chew on.

How can Albany Technical College increase enrollment.

I am at a little bit of a disadvantage for this subject since I am not in Albany where I might see what types of promotions that the college has implemented, however, I will attempt to provide a few suggestions. I may use Savannah Tech as an example for some points. First of all, is the campus student friendly? The best I remember, yes it is. It is very clean and well illuminated. The classrooms are comfortable and easy for instructors to be able to interact with students. In the front of Savannah Tech is a large sign where current programs are listed or any special news, such as dates for registration, or information meetings for a new program such as FAA Airframe and Power plant Certification prep classes upcoming. Is this information on the Schools website on the front page or Splash screen. If not I think it should be. If a student or potential student is not aware that a particular program is available or has commenced, how can he take part? I see where Albany Tech has undertaken a great step in improving their enrollment, by partnering with Albany State across town. This is probably one of the greatest steps that they could have done at present. This allows many students who might not be able to afford to take a lot of their coursework at Albany State or another major college to go ahead and get started at Albany Tech and transfer. If they could partner with a few other schools in the University of Georgia system, they could perhaps increase their rolls even more. I don’t remember if Darton accepts much of the credits from Albany Tech but there is also the Marine base and it’s education center that may have other schools that might be willing to accept letters of agreement with Albany Tech.

What I Learned This Week:

Chapter two in my book discusses a "World of People and Purposes", but for class purposes I have identified two items from chapter two that I have learned about this week...
In just two words, purpose and audience, here we have the starting basis for how to focus your efforts in communicating technical information. This can be used for any kind of information really. It is really a lot more involved, but before a person begins to communicate with someone, they go through a mental process: Who do they want to have this knowledge, and Why ? Then they proceed to " how am I going to convey it?" Sometimes, this process is not as organized as it should be and the message gets confused in the presentation or the translation by the recipient. Once we understand the purpose for the communication, whether it be information they desire or information you wish to impart; define whether this is formal, specifically purposed for work setting or informal communication that could be more personalized. Then we can identify our audience, who will be using this information, and do they have any special needs in order to process this information. In other words, can we relate directly or will there be some difficulties in the transfer of knowledge. Now that our society has become much more global, we must realize that there are even more stumbling blocks that hinder accurate communication. Language, including dialects, slang, other colloquialisms, traditions, and norms from other societies may differ from our own. Other items to consider are if this is other than oral communication, who else might have access to it. If it involves computers, what are the skill levels of the recipients? There are really a lot of things to process before you actually communicate.

I'm old

Well, it's official...I'm OLD. The fact that I have already been to my 10 year reunion, my 25 year reunion and my 30 year class reunion had no effect except I realized some of the people I went to school with have gotten really old. I still felt like me. Now that I have two teen aged daughters that drive...now that will make you old. I still think I need to go ahead and get my degree before they do though. ( I am running out of time quickly though...:) ) Sure am glad this is my last class for my associates degree. Hmmm. better look at what I will need to finish the BS as well. Now this is where technology has really helped me lately. Now I can take my classes online where I usually didn't have the extra time to commute to class after a long day at work. I can go to "school" in my underwear. Sorry didn't mean to paint that picture, but you know what I mean. Now I can stretch out after work and do my school at the house. This is great.... but I do feel older. Oh well... maybe seeing some of the other people who will graduate with me will make me feel young again. :)

An exercise in communication

I realize this is an exercise in communication of the technical sort, although I really haven't had any technical information to relay as of yet. I hope this first part is just getting familiar with weblogs and how easy it is to actually put information out there in "cyberland" on the WWW.
While this blog will probably be deleted at the completion of this course, I suppose I will go ahead and have a little bit of fun with it. So after I ramble on a bit, I may actually have a few good things to say. First I must identify my audience... so anyone out there visiting my site, go ahead and post so I will have an idea who you are and how to proceed. I will, of course, visit your blogs too, as this is also a part of the exercise. Thank you and good day. :)

Welcome to week two

Well, I guess this is the beginning of week number two. It has been a while since I have been to the Albany Tech campus. I imagine that if it has improved as much as the Savannah Tech campus has that it is quite nice now. I understand that there is even a sports team now. .. The Titans. I will have to look into what sports the team actually plays. Basketball or football or perhaps some other. Currently I am trying to get in a liitle blogging during my break. I build buisiness jets for a living. Some of the world's finest. Check out our company website... http://www.gulfstream.com/ You can even download a few pictures. Well, gotta run, people keep buying these things.

George

Week One

Today I am creating my first blog... this is an assignment for my class, I welcome you to the spot where my opinion is given freely:)