Reading Notes: The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

These stories were different than what I was expecting. The were very concise and fairly simple. One of my favorites was The Foolish, Timid Rabbit, which tells the story of a single rabbit starting a widespread panic because of his foolishness. He hears a coconut fall from a tree and thinks it is the sound of the earth breaking up without even looking to investigate. He begins running and spreads the idea more and more until finally the wise lion has the sense to investigate. I almost expected this story to end with some kind of moral like in a children's books because of the simplicity of the writing. I enjoyed the plot, and as the description says, it reminded me of the movie Chicken Little.

Rabbit (Flickr)

Reading Options

From browsing the readings that lie ahead in this course, I can tell that most of them will be material that is brand new to me. I am particularly interested in The Ramayana  and The Mahabharata and reading about the epic wars. Specifically, the different reading/viewing options in week 5 and week 9 seem like they will put a fun twist on the epics. I am also interested in reading about the Gods and Goddesses of India, I think that will be something new and different that I wont have many other opportunities to learn about.

Goddess (Pixabay)

Time Strategies

Personally, I prefer a non-online class that gives me set times, due dates, structure, etc. in order for me personally to make the most out of time management. This class is going to be something completely new for me. Even though this class is not what I am used to or most comfortable with, I am excited to be enrolled in it because I think it will help me late in life in the real world which will be structured more like this class than others. The first article I read was The Myth of Too Busy, which discusses the idea of prioritizing your time which I found very interesting and useful. The second article I read was How to Beat Procrastination, which gives a number of ways to get yourself to stop procrastinating. This is one of my biggest problems when it comes to school and this article really made a mark on me.

Procrastination (Flickr) 

Course Technology

For the most part I am pretty unfamiliar with the specific technology tools we are going to be using in this class. I have never blogged before and the fact that Canvas is not used will be something for me to get used to for class. I do appreciate that Prof. Gibbs knows that we will not use Canvas after college and is trying to actually prepare us for business life. I have never taken an online course before and the structure is already very different than anything I have dealt with before but I am confident that the format of this class and the freedom that it allows will help me be successful throughout the semester.

Computer (Pixabay)

More About the Class Assignments

The structure of this class is like nothing I have every encountered before. I am very intrigued by the freedom that the class offers and I'm excited to see how this format works throughout the semester. Of the core assignments, the one that stood out the most to me was the Storytelling. I have never had assignments like this before and it really interests me to see what I can come up with as well as what others come up with. I love the amount of extra credit opportunities offered throughout the course. I am most interested in the Wikipedia Trails and the Growth Mindset. The previous assignment we completed about the Growth Mindset really captured my interest and I would love to learn more about it, especially if I get extra credit for it, win-win. The Wikipedia Trails also sounds like a lot of fun because who knows where that could take you!

Extra Credit (Flickr)

Storybook Favorites

After browsing through the storybooks for this class I have chosen a few that really caught my attention. Here are some of my favorites.

Temple of Doom (Link)
This storybook instantly stood out to me because of the interesting title. When I saw it I immediately thought of the Indiana Jones movie and i had to click the link and find out what it was about. The design of the page is great. Beautiful and crisp images serve as links to the the sections of the project and the background is a rolling thunderstorm that actually moves as you surf the page which I found to be very cool. The introduction starts with dialogue which got me to continue reading but didn't really grab my full attention. I chose this storybook because of the great design.

Temple of Doom

The Entrepreneur (Link)

I chose to click on the link for a couple of reasons. I am majoring in entrepreneurship so just seeing the word in the title caught my attention, and then as I thought about it I wanted to see an entrepreneur had to do with Indian Epics. When I clicked the link I was very impressed with the design and layout of the page. The overlaid images that move as you scroll is a great look, although it can be a little bit confusing. The introduction was a little bit boring in my opinion. It did really grab my attention or hook me in more than any other story but it still got me to want to read the story mostly because of my interest in the topic of entrepreneurship. 

CSI: Indian Epics (Link)

When I came across this title I immediately clicked it because I wanted to know how CSI related to Indian Epics. As soon as the page opened and I began reading the introduction I was hooked. One of the first lines reads "If you are reading this it means I am dead." I had to find out what that meant and definitely wanted to keep reading. The design was interesting. The page is made to look like writing on a yellow notepad which corresponds the to the story being told of someone finding a journal. As I continued reading past the introduction I was very impressed with the detail of the story as the author described the death of each person, evidence gathered, etc. I really liked this storybook. 

CSI: Indian Epics

Growth Mindset

Before this assignment I had not heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset, but after looking over the information about it I am very interested. I'm not too proud to admit that I find myself falling into a more fixed mindset rather than growth. I don't push myself to get better or improve as often as I should but this assignment is really opening my eyes to the benefits of doing so. I am intrigued and would definitely like to learn more about this idea throughout this semester and hopefully be able to change my own mindset into a more growth oriented position.

Brain Growth (Source)

Introduction to the Blogger

Hello everybody, my name is Hayden Spielman and I am the author of this great blog. I have spent my entire life in the amazing city of Fort Worth, Texas where I was born and raised. Fort Worth is a wonderful place and I would not want to live anywhere else. I am a junior majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurship with hopes of working in real estate later in life. I am interested in working in real estate because I think it is one of the few careers that offers a fair amount of freedom and activity beyond just working on a computer all day. I really enjoy being active so I would never be able to have a job that kept me in an office all day every day. My favorite hobbies are hunting and fishing, specifically duck hunting and fly fishing. This summer I took an amazing trip to Colorado and fly fished the Colorado River for a few days and I had a blast. Another thing that I really enjoy is playing golf. I am an extremely average golfer but even on my worst day on the course there aren’t many things that I would rather be doing. My favorite movies by far are the Indiana Jones movies (the first three when Indy was young and cool, the newer one where he is old doesn’t do the series justice). I also enjoy the movie Step Brothers and the TV show Friends which is always my go-to if it is on. The last and most important thing I’d like to share about myself is that I have a dog named Duke. He is a German Shorthaired Pointer and I love him. He is in Fort Worth living with my brother at the moment because I can’t have a dog at my house in Norman. That pretty much sums up my life, I hope you enjoy my blog for the upcoming year.

Fly Fishing (Source)

Picture a Favorite Place

One of my favorite places in the world is Colorado. For the past few years, my family has made an annual trip to Vail, Colorado every summer and I absolutely love it. Summertime in the Rocky Mountains is amazing. The weather is perfect and the scenery is breathtaking. On top of that, there are so many activities that Colorado has to offer. I love to fly fish and kayak and Colorado is the perfect Summer destination to do both of those.

(Colorado in the summertime. Source: Pixabay)

Does this thing work?

This is a test. Pineapple. Screwdriver. Coffee table.