Some Critical Thinking

It is ridiculous to see Chapman students during lectures (and I am not talking specifically for this class) on Facebook; I can't believe how they waste their time like this... It is really pissing me off even watching them or even knowing that they are doing it.
I was making fun of facebooking- or other online-time-burning-activities, with my professor in Business Law  last semester, He used to teach in a small lecture hall; annoyed, but in a humorous style he told me one day in his office hours, some people are just relentless all of a sudden during the lecture they will throw huge smiles or even laughs, totally ignoring where they are. It was on a small lecture hall, but he could point-out who was time-burning on their laptops...

I recalled you mentioned you failed someone because of Facebook, nice!

I forgot to mention that another important reason that the whole thing bothers me is that it has an impact on me. I use computers for note taking, I type fast and blind and I am really organizing information on computers very well. Also this last year I finally got a multi-screen environment on my Desktop, for work initially, but I couldn't believe the productivity boost on the student part. Computers are a great tool for students, if used wisely. My conclusion is that some professors do not allow laptops/computers due to the fact that students will be wondering away online... So back to hand-written notes where I can barely take 1/3 of the notes that I would with a laptop (and with serious pain on my hand) and then scan... blah.. (CR won't even work on my handwriting, hehe, so failure)

I am glad you keep a strict policy with this whole issue.

Maybe Chapman should block Facebook!

That would be funny! I am sure it would raise hell... (just joking)

Thanks for the opportunity to relax a bit and get back to work/studying.

Some fun staff!

   I will implement a Java applet to assist me in studying for midterm 3 and also for some practice in Java.(It can be a useful template for other exams too). I ll post the link on the blog when it's ready so you can see it.
    Something else that I am excited about is that we are developing another site (blogs, forums and a main site). It's a scientific community with major topics: Business/Econ, Physics, Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering (Constructions). I am writing the code with one more person and I will be writing the Business/Econ blogs and forums and the Computer Science blog (Can't have a forum on that). 2 more people with great technical knowledge and friends for years will be responsible for the Physics and Engineering. I am working for a month now on this project and have finished the template designs. It is going to be ready after the spring brake or by June.
   We 've got big plans to develop in many ways, one is possibly to soon implement an online tutoring environment.
  I 'll let you know when it's ready.
Or maybe I 'll do a tech news report on it... hehe

Today's lecture was much harder and very technical but interesting. I watched a lot of videos' for Oracle BI 11g in the beginning of this course and they analyzed numerous aspects of CRMS. Many times during the last lecture, I had the "flash": oh yea that was they were talking about in BI 11g...

I probably mentioned that I really like this course and actually all the courses that I am taking, especially because this course has connected and built-on my tacit knowledge. It's an experience...

I never asked, do you teach other courses?

Also I just remembered, I posted some of the sites that we have made and mentioned that they are in Greece just so you wont be surprised . They have at least, an English template.
I am saying so because you replied you won't check them because their are in Greek.
Either way, check them out if you have a minute :)

Oracle Business Intelligence 11g

    I did more research on this new BI package from Oracle that I told you about. I didn't know that Oracle serves 70%+ of the S&P 500companies for over a decade now. The presentation that I show by the president of Oracle for Oracle BI 11g proves that they came up with a high quality enterprise package. (common file extensions for all departments, very flexible, customizable interface with applications, statistics  and many other).
  The funniest thing is that they offer a free download of the package and I thought that it would be a free product as long as you rent the Oracle servers (which are quite expensive alone).
Well I thought wrong, the license to use the package is 259,000$ per processor! +40000$ a year for support!

Just another proof of how prosperous the future is for BI in general.

In Action!

  Exciting week, I guess we are getting into the exciting part of the class. Let's make some databases then!
I am excited to get a better understanding of database structures and functions. At this point my goal is also to be able to construct a database using phpMYadmin and MySQL since they are OSS.

I am also studying for Thursday's exam. I like the fact that we have a bunch of exams for this class.I guess more exams will encourage students to study regularly, adsorb more, and those who already study lots, to get a satisfactory grade. I get a feeling that if we had just a couple of exams for this course they would have been pretty hard due to information overload. (Especially for people that are not computer fanatics-not me)


Have a great week

Some more input

Probably after the exam, the most exciting topics of the new material covered are not new to me so, I am looking forward for the following chapters.

Since I am working with Java a lot lately I discovered Oracle's Business Intelligence package, which implements many aspects of what he have discussed. The software is free but I read that you need Oracle, Microsoft or IBM servers who are all quite expensive) The exciting news are that Chapman has an Oracle and Microsoft server( i found about it today) that students can use for free. I will sure learn more about the software and about the Oracle servers so I can make it work and see its potential. I think it must be a great piece of software though from some reviews that I read and after playing around with it a bit.

Update on the Stuxnet

From a computer engineer friend I found some scary details on stuxnet. The virus would affected the sensors that control the nuclear reactor and other important instruments in a manner that they would not respond in an abnormal situation. That means that a leak on the nuclear reactor, or other serious damage for example would not be detected by the system to respond in the appropriate manner!

Well I guess that's why the Russian NATO ambassador said that we could have had a new Chernobyl.  Of course he said that because everybody suspected the U.S behind this; but also Russia since the stuxnet event, has stalked their nuclear programs, coincidence? I don't think so.

My journey to... Chapman

    Since you were interested to learn how I ended up in Orange County, here is the story:

      Probably the main reason why I flew over the Atlantic Ocean, around three and a half years ago was, because of my desire to research for new, more mind-boggling things. I graduated in high school in 1999, I was in physics school for four years (from where I didn't graduate), I have a market maker certificate. Throughout my University years and I had various business interests. I started working in our family business (pharmacy) since high school and I was always challenged by entrepreneurship, management and the financial markets. I have done a few different jobs throughout the years after high school, I was a tutor in math physics and also in business and economics here in the U.S. I was a tutor in Orange Coast college where I did my first two years of business Adm-> transferred to Chapman last year). I was an employee in the pharmacy, a cashier, the kid to run to the banks and outside jobs, later I had many managerial responsibilities, which have been growing over time (I am also an owner know since the pharmacy changed from a partnership to a form of LLC.)  My interest in the financial markets, business environment and my cousin, who was one of the most successful stock brokers in Greece, (he is in Chicago now) were the reason that I got the market maker certificate but mostly worked as a broker along my cousins' side for a period of two years. I did investments for funds and individual customers and worked for two different investment firms. I also have done a lot of work on computers. software, hardware, networks and this last year a lot of web-design and graphics.
   To summarize a bit, I was always disappointed with the educational system in Greece, so I did visit the U.S. for 3 months in research of whether I would like to stay in the U.S. and of course if so find me a good school to start.( I had decided on the business major by that time) It was a fun period I traveled a lot and stayed mostly in Chicago and in Los Angeles. My cousin (the broker) moved to Chicago to work in an investment firm and my aunt (my mothers' sister) and my uncle live in Dana Point. After all California won the debate and I attended Orange Coast College after the period of 3months.
  It was a big investment for me to move here but I am really glad to be here and accomplished many of the goals that I put throughout this journey. I am also currently very happy to minor in computer science since not only it will perpetuate my computer skills and passion, but also it absolutely relates to the modern entrepreneurial model of business. I also declared my major last year to be entrepreneurship, since I believe that is what naturally attracts me the most and I also find it one of the most challenging but also rewarding business aspect/model.
      In general I am very attracted by knowledge and new information, even more since I became a student in Chapman. That raises another question for me which I still need some time to figure out. How to distribute my time should I be a student for a good while and get more degrrees,(computer science master, or business phd, etc or should I focus on implementing some really good business ideas. So far I do a lot of both but I have zero time for what people call fun ...at least I find a lot of pleasure in both. I have my "ideas to do list" and I am implementing them slowly following some hierarchy.