Reflection on Google Practical Project

We had to do a Google blog and a Google site for the MIS course, as we had to put reflections on the week, relevant articles, and videos according to what we like in the Google blog. I used to write my diary in the blog every week, and the things that happened to me or I did and found interesting. According to the Google site, we had to create a site and create pages for 10 Google tools and show through screenshots and explanations how we used that tools, but I did for 20 Google tools although we are required to do just 10 tools.

I really liked using the Google site as I learnt really well how to use it. Now I will talk about the tools I did about and how I used them:
1. Google Calendar: I realized that it is a helpful tool so why don't I use it in scheduling my time in doing the projects and the deadlines that we have so I don't forget them. It is very easy to use and I put whatever I want to remember like the important events.
2. iGoogle: iGoogle is really fun to use as I changed the theme of Google and put what I wanted and felt is cute, Also I put some stuff that I found interesting to be in the iGoogle page like joke of the day, Google calendar and date and time.
3. Google searching: Google searching really helped me in doing my researches in an easier way. I did some explicit phrase, searched for a specific file type, did a "numrange" search, found the definitions and the synonym of some words, calculate some numbers and finally did a compound research. It really benefited me as I didn’t know about these things before.
4. Google earth: I used Google earth to see the locations and the places I am interested in, I just had to write the name of the place that I wanted to see and it then it appeared to me.
5. Google finance: After explaining the Google finance, I realized that it is important and useful especially for the currency project where we had to know the currencies and how it changed and the reasons for its movements. Also I used it to read some articles and the markets news which really helped me in some of my projects.
6. Google Groups: I joined to different Google groups and added lots of posts when I was free. Also I learnt how to create a new group as I created one group and made my friends join it.
7. Google labs: Google labs is a very interesting tool. I used this tool in some of my researches for videos and pictures. Also I used the similar images to find some pictures that are the same.
8. Google Language Tools: Google Language Tools is a very important tool as I used it to translate from one language to another, I also used it to help my sister in her project by seeing the articles and the websites in 2 Languages that I chose.
9. Google Picasa: Google Picasa is a nice tool and I used it to edit my pictures and tag faces as it has lots of features. Google Picasa managed all the pictures I had in my laptop and put them in one side, so it can be easier for me to see them, and then I chose the effects I wanted to add in my pictures.
10. Gmail: After knowing the Gmail, I use it more than the hotmail as it has more features; I used it to label some of my e-mails. Also I created a filter to my e-mails and I needed to write the tasks I had to do, so I wrote them in the tasks and it really helped me.

In conclusion, Google blog and Google site really helped me in my studies and they were easy to use. One problem I faced in the Google site is when uploading some pictures it becomes really slow and sometimes the laptop froze. In my opinion, this project supported me in doing my projects and gaining too many information about the Google tools.

my summary

We had to do a summary for our English course about a topic that is related to our major and I chose a topic about the bankers, this is my summary:

Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq blames the US and the European banks for facing the downfalls. He said that these banks give lots of bonuses for the managers in a way that is out of control and made their banks go through the downfall. Also they run their banks quarter to quarter and try to make the outside customers happy by showing them that they are growing, while actually they make their bank suffer because more growth needs bigger bonuses which will make the bank declines. For instance, the European bank that had the biggest loss from the financial crisis was told to reduce their bonuses as it plays a huge role in decreasing the assets of the institution. UAE banks were clever enough not to lay their hand on their assets for the bonuses.
Mashreq could not run away from the effects of the financial crisis as their profit decreased by 14%, and they were one of the four banks that were downgraded for the standard and negative poor services. Al Ghurair said that the entire world is facing the financial crisis and Mashreq is dealing with it by building their own foundations and expand their business. For example, they had a partnership agreement with China’s national bank to enable Asian visitors to use their own cards for withdrawal and other things at Mashreq’s network in the UAE, so they were the first bank in the Middle East to do such thing.
Masheq was known for being initiative as they were the first bank to start an ATM and credit card in the UAE. He said “the worst time is behind us” which means that most banks are recovering from the financial crisis and Mashreq started to give loans for new customers after examining them. Mashreq used 68 million to rebrand their logo and name two years ago, and the surveys showed that customers liked the new rebranding as they found it open, welcoming and easy to get to. Adding to all that, they are training their staff in the bank and they changed their policies and products to satisfy the customer’s needs. He said “We will only do business we understand, business we don’t understand we walk away from”, this means that he will try his best and use his knowledge to make Mashreq grow.
My opinion about the article is that it was understandable and everything was explained clearly. I selected a long article and I thought that I will regret it, but actually I liked it as the longer the article is, the more explanations and examples it contains. I think that it is a good idea to do such thing in order to increase the knowledge as I really learnt many things about Mashreq bank and how does the external world doing financially.

seatbelt ad

I saw this ad about the seatbelt and the importance of it, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9_BTm41MI

last week

Last week was good as we didn’t have too many deadlines, we only had 2 exams one is the English reading and the other one is case study for the marketing. The English exam was a little easy while the marketing exam was a little bit hard. On Thursday, me and my sister intended to go to our friend’s wedding in Hyatt rejency hotel, but we changed our plan in the last minute and went to the cinema to watch a movie called Avatar. I saw the ad of this movie before and I liked it a lot and thought it will be a great movie, but actually it was not. The movie was a little boring in the beginning and became exciting at the end, so it was not as I though it will be.
Yesterday, we went to Fujairah with our family members for a picnic. In the afternoon the weather was not good but later it became really nice, as there were many clouds in the sky. We ate our lunch and then I tried to climb a small mountain, I thought it will be easy but actually it was really hard especially when we wanted to come down from the mountain. Then, we grilled some kebab and ate our dinner there although it was raining and we sat together and talked about different things and then came back home at 11 pm. I was really tired so I went to sleep directly at 12:00 mid night.

The bazaar

This week we had the bazaar in the college, so we had to prepare for it the day before which is on Monday as we decorated the booth with mirrors. We “the finance students” were responsible for the bank and had to do 6 hours shifts either in the morning or at night. At the first two days I did a morning shift but at the last day I took a night shift and I really enjoyed my time with my friends although the bazaar this year was not perfect as last year. I didn’t find unique ideas in the bazaar as most of the booths were selling blackberry stuff and covers and some of the booths had unreasonable prices while others were fine.
I spent most of our time in the Cafeteria as our bank was there, so we didn’t have time to go outside and see what they were selling. One booth I liked most was the laptop skin booth as they had lots of funny and cute laptop skins with reasonable prices and I bought 2 laptop skins. The booth I liked least was a booth selling hand bags as they had high prices for their bags. I tried to have as much fun as I could because there are lots of works waiting for us in the next weeks.

The movement of the water

My Holiday (2)

On Wednesday, we went to Al Fujairah with all the family members including my sister and her husband, her husband’s family, my cousins and some of the family’s friends. We went after the lunch and prepared our ourselves for the trip, and we reached there by about 4:30 pm. The weather was so nice and we sat together and chatted with each other, the boys went to ride their bikes. Then, at night we grilled some meat and ate our dinner their and then came back to home really tired by about 11 pm.

Yesterday, we went to the Global Village and we spent all the day in shopping in different villages. They had lots of staff I wanted so I couldn’t control myself and the village I liked most was Syria because they had lots of nice perfumes and clothes. We watched some Indian, African and Egyptian shows and dances which was nice. Later we ate our dinner and came back home at 12 am at mid night.

My Holiday

On Wednesday, the college celebrated the National day, but we didn’t enjoy our time on that day because we had lots of works to be done and one of the groups had to do their presentation on that day. After arriving home, me and my sisters went to the saloon to put some henna on our hands to prepare for the Al Eid and we spent most of our day there.

The Eid was on Friday and it was a boring day as the family gathered and sat together for almost the whole day which I don’t like to do. Yesterday we went to the global village and had a great time there, the weather was nice and everything was going well. I did lots of shopping and bought lots of staff I need and don’t need. Then we ate our dinner and returned to home happily.

Today, I want to go to the cinema in the Arabian centre to see New Moon as my friends told me that it’s a great movie. I hope to have a good time and enjoy every second in the holiday as lots of works are waiting for us when we will return to the college.

A very exhausted week

Last week was really stressful as we had to prepare for the MIS project and we were a little worried of what will happen and how we will explain to the students. We also had a take home exam which has the same deadline of the MIS project, so we tried really hard to manage our time in order to make both of them done.

I tried to do the take home exam for the international trade and finance course by myself but there were some questions I couldn’t understand, so I asked my friends and we tried to do them together and ask the teacher if we couldn’t solve them. According to the MIS project which is about explaining a chapter about the IT Infrastructure for the students, we sat together and tried to do a plan and what each will do and then each of the group members researched a little and used the book. On Wednesday the girls went to the air show and we used that time to practice how we will present and teach the students. We also went to the data center in the college after arranging an appointment with one of the staff there, he explained to us about the data center and how does it work, then we asked him that we will bring the students to the data center on Sunday.

Finally, today is Friday but instead of going out and having fun we are doing and preparing for the MIS project, and we hope everything will go as we planned.

The Citi Bank Interview

Yesterday we had an interview with Citi Bank for the marketing mix project. We didn't have a free time so we asked Miss Fahmida to allow us to go in her class time, and she gave us the permission. We reached there at 10:30 am and the interview was at 11:00 am so we had some time to check the place out and we wanted to take some pictures but they didn’t allow us as they had lots of security. Then we went inside and a man came to guide us to the marketing manager, the person we will interview, and it was at the second floor. They took us in a small meeting room and asked us if we wanted a tea or a coffee, and they were really nice people and friendly. Then the manager came and he answered all our questions clearly, he was really helpful and made us recognize that marketing is an important department and it needs lots of work and patient employees. We asked him if we can take some pictures and he said that he would send us some picture as it is not allowed to take pictures there. Also he told us to send him the final report we well make, so that he can see the outcomes.

We returned to the college at 12:30 pm and then went to eat our lunch. Our last class was with Mr. Phillip and I felt that it was a long class as I was tired from the interview we had. After returning to the home, I slept and then did some research and preparation for the MIS project which is about explaining a chapter to the class members. Finally, I slept late at 2:00 am and today I really feel sleepy, fortunately, we will finish today at 2:00 pm.

Last Week

Last week we had the accounting midterm exam on Tuesday and I had to study two days before so that I can cover every thing. The exam was fine and the next day the teacher distributed the papers and I was really happy as I got a good mark thankfully . Then, I did my accounting project because the deadline was near and I didn’t start it, so I did a part of it. On Thursday, I went to Arabian centre with my family in order to change my mood from the exams and the projects and did some shopping and ate the dinner there. I came back at 11 pm and then watched a movie on mbc4 called the blind date and then went to sleep at 1:30 am.

Today, I got up at 1:30 pm and then ate my lunch and watched an Indian movie called Fashion which was good. I will go out later to buy some clothes and make some abayas for the Eid, so that the tailor finishes them before al Eid comes. Tomorrow I will start the MIS project about explaining a chapter to the class. I really hope next week goes well as we have two interviews with Al futtaim Company and Citi Bank and I wish we accomplish what we suppose to do.

Job Mock Interview

Today we had the mock job interview; I woke up at 10:30 am and reached the college at 12 pm. My interview was at 1:30 and I was ready and well prepared as I had an extra print out for my CV and the cover letter with the job description. When they called my name I felt a little scared. I was hoping to have an assessor who taught me before, so they know me and I can be comfortable, but unfortunately, I didn’t know both of the assessors. The first question they asked me was talk about you; I answered that question and said that I am a little bit sensitive person, and so on. After that all the questions were related to me being sensitive. For example, you said that you are sensitive, how do you deal with rejection or how can you be a leader if you are sensitive or you have lots of experiences, did you face any problem with you being sensitive. I really became angry why did they take this issue seriously and in the last of the interview, they asked me if I had a question for them and I said no I entered your website and had all the information I needed and then they said to me you should have some questions for us otherwise you will not seem interested in the job. I became angrier because our sir said it’s not important to have a question.
I think I did well in the interview and hope to have a good mark, but I don’t think I will. Then I returned to the home and had my lunch and then started to study the midterm exam for the corporate clients’ course. I really hope the exam goes well tomorrow and to have a high mark.

Google Project

Our first project in MIS was to make a training session for the students about one of the Google tools and teach them how to use them. I had to teach the students about Google groups and talk about why we use them and the steps of creating one.

I was prapared well for the training session and I think that I did a good job. Each person has strengths and weaknesses, and my strengths was that I had a loud voice so that every one could hear me in the class. Moreover, I explained the lesson step by step and asked everyone if they understood or not. I had few mistakes that I should avoided. My first mistake was that I didn't walk around the classroom to see if the students are following what I was explaining. My second mistake was that I wasted a little of my time for the presentation as I did not know that presenations are not necessary in the training session. Another thing I did wrong was that I did not ask the students to download the files that I sent them before the class, so I do not waste my time for them to download while I am explaining.

In the next training session I will avoid all my weaknesses and try to overcome them. Actully I prefer to have a presentation instead of a training session and that is because I really get bored when I repeat the information several times, and I feel stressed because of the time limit.

In conclusion, I got some benefits from this project as I realized my strengths and weaknesses points. I hope I do a better job in my next training session.