ABC

Affect

During this course, I have to admit that the emotion I most felt was stress. That being said, it wasn’t a negative stress overload like some classes cause. It was the stress of hoping that I was understanding everything correctly and ready to contribute to each project as expected. This is class functioned under an organization model that is very different than the one I use in my personal life. But as I mentioned earlier, I’m not saying this was a negative thing to happen to me. I feel that it was an opportunity to learn adaptation skills and work in a changing environment.

The group work is what mostly caused that feeling of stress as the seemingly chaotic block quickly came to a close. As part time students after full time work, we each felt the strain of making schedules and ideas work with other group members. But I feel that I needed to learn more of this skillset to enhance my career and leadership methods. Although it seemed difficult to keep up with each assignment and new concept, I understand that this is your teaching method, and it added a new dimension to my education.

In the other class I took during this block, we learned that to truly change anything in an organization (or a person), it is essential to feel the need for the change, rather than simply hear why it is important. During this project management class, I have felt the need to learn new styles of projects, work tasks, leadership methods, and teaching types. Being able to feel, instead of hear only, has been beneficial in my quest for constant improvement

Behavior

I feel like I was one of the few members of this class that does not regularly participate in project management of some sort. As unrelated as it may seem, however, I am an event and project planner at heart. I am always planning and creating some type of party, reunion, work events and trainings, etc. Last summer, I planned my family reunion of several hundred people for three days. As I look back at some of the methods I used to make sure everything was in order, I realize that several of the tasks and tools taught in this class can help me more successfully plan and coordinate my future projects even better.

For my actual job at DMBA, even though I don’t manage any projects, I am on several teams that are working on different projects throughout the department. I noted several tools and methods that we could start using to better communicate and coordinate tasks among team members. I think there are several projects we do that would benefit from using something like Asana or Trello to help create a work breakdown structure. One area I see that we can improve is having a clear identification of what is expected of each team member.

I have been working on a project over the past few months that involves reorganizing and restructuring the training and recertification in our department. Since I was taking this class during this project, it was helpful for me to break down the tasks of the project and separate them out into clear and precise pieces. This was something I learned in class. When it came time to present my work to leadership, they were impressed in the detailed steps I had listed to achieve the goal we are trying to accomplish. I appreciate the insight gained from this class.

Cognition

Since this was the first project management experience I have really had in a formal setting, I came away from this class with a lot more knowledge than I had before. I really didn’t know anything about any of the crucial pieces to putting together a successful project. For example, I had never heard of a stakeholder analysis, work breakdown structure, or many of the online tools we learned about in class. I have used things similar to these ideas in several work and school project without really knowing what their official names were and why they are so important.

Beyond just learning the mechanics of a well-organized project, I think more about the process of each task, and I never really used to focus much on these aspects of a project. During the planning and creating ideas portion of a project at work, I now recognize what parts of our goal is weak or what project piece we are missing to fully capture the scope of the project. Similarly, with school projects, I now know some good ways to assign and follow up in a project that requires several different people to be working on various tasks.

Overall, one main thing I have learned during this class is that sometimes, it’s okay to feel a little stressed while projects and due dates seem to loom. As I mentioned, this class was run using a different model of organization than I prefer, but that doesn’t mean that it is bad. It means that I have a lot to learn about different learning models. I think this class has done a good thing for me.

Personal Introduction

There are a lot of things that have influenced the me of today, but I think the most important influences up to this point would have to be my belief in my religion, my large family and farm upbringing, and my wonderful wife and children. Frankly, this is the small list of things that I could not live without. There are obviously other things I enjoy in life, but these things truly define me. Luckily, I have an old blog from a class a few years ago that I plan to revive for the entries due in this class. 

I grew up in a small town near Boise, ID called Kuna. My dad is a farmer. He farms potatoes, sugar beets, peas, beans, corn, mint, alfalfa, and several other crops. I worked hard at my dad's side during all the years I lived at their home. I am an accomplished pianist, and I started my first business teaching piano lessons to more than 20 students during high school. I have 7 sisters and 1 brother, and I cherish my relationship with each of them. 

I earned my bachelors degree in 2013 from BYU in Latin American Studies. As part of my major, I taught business classes in southern Brazil for four months. Our goal was to teach natives how to become more self-sufficient and even start their own businesses. 

During my time at BYU and after I graduated, I worked in the security department at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. After supervising the training of this staff for a few years, I began my current employment at DMBA, where I coordinate payments for LDS church activity accidents. I have always been an event planner! Although I have little formal project management experience, I have been planning events and projects for years. This is definitely a strength of mine. I am a confident speaker and leader, I like to meet people and make new friends, and I am very dependable in everything I do. 

I am a pretty boring person, so the only relatively interesting thing I can think of at this moment (and some have heard this) is that my second daughter was the 3 millionth resident of Utah. She was born last October, and since she was selected to represent the idea of Utah reaching 3 million residents, the governor came to meet us at the hospital, and we were interviewed by several different news agencies. It was a fun experience. 

I really do hope to gain valuable knowledge in the field of project management. As I mentioned, I have not done a lot of formal project management, but I am excited to put in the effort to learn. This class appears as though it will be a bit complex with the many different assignments done in various ways, but I am up for the challenge. I think it will be a good addition to the classes I have already taken for the big picture of my MBA. I have never turned in a late assignment in my whole life, and I certainly do not plan to start now. I am committed to excellence in whatever I take on. 

Harry Potter

I thought our class on Thursday was a perfect way to end a fun semester. Throughout the course of this class, we have learned many ways to identify different traits, styles, and habits of Latin Americans. Whether it be in music, film, art, or literature, Latin American artists seem to follow some similar patterns of behavior. Not always, but in general, we can identify some trends that seem apparent in their work. Our skills were ultimately put to the test while we watched movies that many of us had already seen, but had no idea that they were done by Latin American directors. This time around, we specifically searched for those same patterns that we learned in this class.

I watched Harry Potter 3 for this assignment. Although I have seen that movie several times, I had no idea that it had a Latin American director. I may never have known or noticed anything that would have made it apparent. With that knowledge this time around, however, I was indeed able to identify a few specific things that may have been done due to Latin American roots or preferences. And to me, they all worked. I loved this movie, and I think he did a great job. 

I even found myself telling my wife and two of my siblings that go to BYU about the things I had learned about Harry Potter 3. They, being big Harry Potter fans like me, were surprised to hear that the director was Latin American. They then asked what kinds of things we had talked about in class about what he had done in this film. I told them about how many noticed that the werewolf was awfully chupacabra-esque. I believe that the chupacabra had at least some influence on how the werewolf was portrayed in the film. We also discussed how there were spanish names on the wall of the school, how the movie was much darker than the previous ones, and how the magic realism theme of Harry Potter fits perfectly into the Latin American culture. Overall, I learned a great deal during the class, and it was fun to be able to put our skills to the test. 

Home Sweet Home

"They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones that cannot out."

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros, 110

This whole last chapter reminds me of the things teenagers say when they leave home, or when they want to leave home. In their inexperienced state of mind, the only logical and normal thing to do is get away from home and move on in life. There is nothing more their parents can do for them. There is no more room for rules and expectations. The only thing to do is get out.

This is not the exact case that Esperanza experiences in The House on Mango Street, but the desire to move away from a place that should mean more to you is very similar. It's hard to see in that moment, but our upbringing has so much to do with where we end up and what we become. Not only our upbringing, but where we lived, where we played, with whom we played, and much more. Mango Street will forever be a part of Esperanza, even though she may not have wanted to admit it. 

Finally, at the end of the book, she admits that she is only leaving Mango Street to return. Whether it will be for her or for the people that are "stuck" in Mango Street, it is a part of her. Mango Street is something that she will constantly think about throughout her life. Like the disgruntled teen, she will eventually realize that home, sweet home is the best thing that ever happened to her. Even if her life wasn't perfect, there always will be an element of "home" in Mango Street. Just as many of us discover as we leave home. 

Bless Me, Ultima

Since I already blogged about the last reading in Bless Me, Ultima, but we still have a blog due during Thanksgiving, I will be talking about a few specific themes from the novel that have stood out to me. Although I have enjoyed most all of the readings for this class (even the ones that most everyone else disliked), I did not enjoy Bless Me, Ultima at all. I am not someone who enjoys the whole mystical-magic-woman-who-knows-everything stories. I would never say that Anaya is not a great author, I just don't personally prefer mystical books like this one. 

I thought Ultima was unrealistic, and I could not relate to her very well. I think her role as a friend and mentor to Antonio was very well described, but the fact that she knew everything and could save everyone seemed very far from home. Another thing that sort of bothered me was the unrealistic maturity of Antonio throughout the book. I can totally see a 6-year-old with a wild imagination much like Antonio's, but I cannot relate to a 6-year-old boy who thinks so much about his eternal soul, the fate of others, and analysis of life in general. A narrative work of a normal 6-year-old would be much more childish with far less complex thought processes. 

Although my personal opinions about the novel are semi negative, I was able to relate to some of its themes. I can relate very well to two different types of family uniting to form the beginning of my immediate family. I have observed how my parents made it work very smoothly. I could relate to the careless childhood games and friends of youth, and how they affect the rest of one's life. Antonio was far more analytical than I ever was as a child, but I remember the fun times I had as a youth, and I am still the same person, but just older. Antonio learned that sooner or later, we all grow up. Things happen that we hope never will, but we make the best of life and carry on. 

Dreams of the Future

"Sometime in the future I would have to build my dream out of those things that were so much a part of my childhood."

Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, 261

Like Antonio, I have definitely shaped much of my adulthood from things that happened to me during my childhood. Unlike Antonio, my childhood is filled with so many happy memories that have affected my life for the best. Poor Antonio obviously didn't grow up as a member of the church, so his childhood was plagued with several experiences that no child should have to endure. But even so, the things that we go through as children really do have a large effect on us as we grow up.

Although these experiences make their way into our lives without us noticing, how can we go about purposely building our dreams for the future from past events of our childhood? While Antonio saw many frightening things as a child, he can also take the positive interactions with his family and Ultima into account as he builds his dream for the future. If he becomes a priest, he can remember the way so many live, and know better exactly how to help them.

I choose to bring my childhood into my future dreams because of the positive experiences I had. I can use the lessons I learned from my family, my school, my friends, my bus rides, my sports teams, my leadership roles, and much more to become a better father, brother, husband, and person. I will choose to build my dream in the future with the foundation of the childhood that got me here. I may not have been as wise and mature as Antonio, but I certainly learned a lot of things that have helped me along the way.

Family Ties

"My mother was not a woman of the llano, she was the daughter of a farmer. She could not see beauty in the llano and she could not understand the coarse men who lived half their lifetimes on horseback. After I was born in Las Pasturas she persuaded my father to leave the llano and bring her family to the town of Guadalupe where she said there would be opportunity and school for us. The move lowered my father in the esteem of his compadres, the other vaqueros of the llano who clung tenaciously to their way of life and freedom."

Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 2

As the lives of Antonio's parents are introduced in the first chapter of this book, it becomes very apparent just how different his extended families are. As explained in the quote, Antonio's mother is a farm girl from the city who values city life and education opportunities. His father, on the other hand, is used to the life he has always known on the llanos. The two parents are obviously doing what's possible to remain a happy family, but the clear differences in opinions about life is obviously hard for them.

What's even more interesting are the non-coincidental names the belong to both families. The family name of Antonio's mother is Lunas, he father's name is Marez. The non-coincidence of these names are their Spanish translations. With mar meaning sea and luna meaning the moon, the characteristics of the families and their name sakes become more obvious. On an even deeper level, the observation that the moon controls the wild sea's tides brings up another accurate analysis of the book's characters. The Lunas family seems to be the ultimate controller of the Marez father, although his roots are independent like the sea. 

Fortunately for me, I married a person whose family doesn't seem to dictate the way I live my life. That is mostly because we all have similar opinions about life. But the concept of one's family imposing personal beliefs upon the other is real. Usually, this imposition isn't even to be rude, but just habit of tradition. The most famous families I first thought of to describe the immediate differences in the families of lovers, are the families of Romeo and Juliet. The Capulet and Montague families did not see eye to eye at all. Their story is obviously different from the story of Antonio's family, but the reality of two families trying to come together is difficult. However, it can be done.