Merry Christmas!

I think now is a good time to reflect on 2010, it has been another interesting year with much going on near the end. I finally got a job this past semester starting in August and I will be leaving that position for another next semester. To make a long story short i was unhappy with my RA position and will now be a lab assistant in Glenn Hall at CSU Chico. Less strenuous and I will actually be happy there. 


Christmas was a great this year because my grandma joined us at home. She hasn't been back to California in over 10 years. That's before 9/11 and she got here in perfect shape. I look forward to our time together. 


Another semester has gone down at Chico. I have three left. WOW. Time has flown. I have to apply for graduation, I can't believe that. I have met another great group of friends at UV. International students are a bunch of fun to hang out with. Some left already to go back home but the time we had this semester was truly wonderful, I can't wait to go visit them when I can. 


I'll make another post soon listing some new year plans but other than that I will be eating seafood tonight. Happy hot pot.  


Merry Christmas y'all.

-Quincy

Tim Wise at Chico

Listening to Tim Wise really helped me realize the position and current state of the United States, and the conditioning we as a society have gone through. You could hear a pin drop as he spoke with such conviction and emotion. At one point, they brought out extra chairs because there were so many people. I’m glad I got there early. The first story he told us was when he just graduated and had no money, but needed a place to stay in New Orleans while he worked. His plan was to try and live with, and I quote,  “9 other roommates” to save money. This is something I can relate to because I live with 3 other guys and we share the kitchen, which if I didn’t periodically mention would never be cleaned. My roommates won’t clean up after themselves and I often put it off because it isn’t my job as I’m not the one who created the mess. However, Mr. Wise tells us eventually it doesn’t matter who creates the mess because the eventual horrible wasteland becomes too much to bear for anybody and it must be dealt with. So, in essence, ignoring the fact will only make things worse.

One of the reasons why we don’t do enough about inequality or social injustices because it’s not our fault, it has been ingrained in our society for a long time that a person or group have gotten to where they are because of their own accord and not because of how society has been created. Tim made sure we realized that the problems that are currently affecting our society and country weren’t created by us, but still have an impact on how we live our lives today. The social injustices in our country are breaking down the lives of the minorities in our society and communities we live in. His speech is coupled with very simple humor that makes it very easy to understand what he is saying. People at the end asked what we could do now and he said that 1) we can identify that we all wear a different lens and to realize that 2) the fact is that we need more collaborative effort to try and change the system of natural cyclical prejudice, bias, racism, and inequality in America. He talks about the white folks that created the social safety nets that saved them back in the day but as soon as Latin and black families began to use these same safety nets, they change their attitudes towards these nets and vilify the newcomers with darker skin and different cultures. The reality is that those benefits were created to help white people in the first place.

The main point that Tim wanted to get across to us is that there is this myth that people get where they are by themselves because that is what our educators have told us, the government has repeated and parents have possibly reinforced. The idea is that if you work hard and do the right things you will earn a living wage, but as Tim pointed out, that is not necessarily true. If you look at the larger picture, you can see that some people, mainly white-males, have been privileged through life and they might not recognize that they were picked for a job or school because of other people’s biases towards the minorities of this country. One of Tim’s examples for this is as follows: you have two resumes in hand and you have to choose one for the position. In one hand you have a white male college graduate that has more experience and so forth, and in the other you have a Latino Male's resume that might look less comparable to the other. Now to say that the white Male's resume is better because he went to a good college would at first seem totally reasonable, but this would be ignoring certain factors. You have to consider how the white male got to where he is today. Is it because he worked harder and is smarter than the Latino male, or is it because he was privileged into his current status? It’s like giving somebody a head start and logically seeing the person who started ahead finishing first. The other person might actually be going faster, but having started behind has to work even harder to catch up. If they had been given the same opportunities, they could be at the same spot in the race, or even ahead.

-Quincy

Not Hearing those that disagree with you? O__o

Issue: Dissent


I had a lecture couple weeks ago about not listening to those who disagree with you and it really got my attention and I made sure I was going to post about it so here it goes. 


     I find it that people are really good at hearing what they want to hear and disregarding the rest. I'm not sure as to what or why the brain does this. Is it natural? I mean can we be self aware of it and maybe change, I believe we can, if we try. How hard would it be to TRY and listen to those who disagree with you? Why is listening so hard? It seems to me that people have a radar and some peeps have a very large radar and they will catch almost everything that comes up on it while others radar are quite limited and they don't catch as much. I'm not saying that the ones with larger radars are smarter because I have no evidence for that, but I can say that you can build your radar. 


      You can start with relevancy, we pick up things that are relevant to us. However you want to do that; read more, watch less, become religious. I don't know, I leave that up to you, but I urge you, no, challenge you to become more relevant. Yes. making yourself listen more I think makes you relevant, not only to yourself but others as well because after you have actually listened to a person instead of trying to think of some awesome rebuttal you can really formulate a real answer and maybe realize you both were talking about the same point and argued over nothing, and which in my opinion is the biggest waste of time. So next time you and a friend or foe get into a discussion or argument test yourself and see if you are actually listening or half-assing it. One point I forgot to mention is that listening and understanding have zero to do with actually agreeing with someone. 


Keeping it short and simple don't want to lose those short attention spans :) 


Music: Calvin Harris I'm Not Alone DEADMAU5 REMIX
Mood: Good and Happy. 


-Quincy

Si se peudes!

Yes we can,

This semester has been flying. And I have been trying to keep up with it. School is tuff, I thought my schedule was going to benefit me, but I look back and I don't think it was the best choice. 4 classes before noon? seriously Steven what were you thinking. The RA job is also as demanding as school. Keeping track of 33 residents and making sure they are all good. That can be stressful sometimes. Getting late night calls for lock-outs and what-not. ugh.

With November brings days light savings time yet I will be on duty at 2, which is actually 3 soo. yeah. not to happy about that. Were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep not stay awake an extra hour. wtf!

Currently working on my board for November and listening to Bob Marley.  Good Stuff.

Peace out

-Quincy

To Residents of Buildings 17-19

Steven here.

This is my personal blog where I like to talk about random stuff about myself. I will start writing to you through this blog. I'm not going to force you to follow me but if you want you can. I will be putting up events, programs, and anything else I find interesting and may concern you guys. I think it will be a fun semester and I look forward to getting to know all of you.

If you haven't taken that survey, here it is again, please take it if you haven't yet.

Please let me know what you think. Leave questions, comments, or anything else.
If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment please email me at spatterson8@mail.csuchico.edu
or just come by my room. Apt #343 Building 19.
Also if you would like to call me my number is (530) 519-6307

You can find me on the internet below \/\/

Facebook. if you're interested.
Twitter. If you're really interested.
LinkedIn for business connections.
Tumblr for randomness.
Youtube My channel.



Yes, I know I spend way too much time on the internet. ;)

MUse Concert!!!!

Tuesday September 28, 2010. Muse will be playing with Passion Pit at the Sacramento Arco Arena and I will be there with two other friends!! So excited. I started listening to Muse when I was about 14. I have almost all their Albums. My absolute favorite is Absolution. Truly epic music. So yeah just wanted to let you all know. I will be posting up pictures from that concert so stayed tuned. Here's a taste of what they sound like LIVE!!!! Take care. 




-Quincy


ps. I bought tickets to the annual Bridge School Benefit The Line up is gonna be 


awesome!!! I'll talk more about that laters. 

New Job

Wow has the last 3 weeks gone by super fast. Well in that time, I've got a job, made new friends, moved to a new room, completed 3 weeks of school, and have started many projects. I am the new RA (Resident Adviser) at University Village. I also work 8 hours at the mail room and also will be TA for Tom Wilder in his BSIS 301 course 3 hours a week. So yeah gonna be super busy exactly the way I like it. So I have my housing paid for and will be making a little bit of money, woot! Things are looking bright. Have a great week y'all.

-Quincy

Update~!

Ahhh school starts Monday. Yay! Finally something for me to do besides looking for a job and contemplating the future of the free world. I have picked out a M/W/F schedule consisting of all business classes ranging from Finance to Supply Chain Management and shall we be walking the stairs of Glenn Hall repeatedly each of those days. I have to somehow manage to get up at 7 in the morning to get ready for my 8am class, and as I am writing this it is sixteen minutes past three....in the MORNING!! Oh well, I was working on my proposal for a concert in Chico as well as catching up on youtube videos as well as facebook, twitter, and this new site I've recently grown fond of Tumblr. Its a great way to post things like pictures, and audio files. I've even got my playlist I can play anywhere I go. It has a lot of my favorite oldies, from the 60's and 70's...rock and the like.

I recently found out an advertisement via Facebook where they use one of your friends and make it look like they initiated a chat session in FB towards you and show you a link that sends you to a "sign up and lose money" deal. That was quite interesting to witness because I do that all the time. I tell my friends on fb via chat that I just found something cool online and I think that they should go check it out and usually the person trusts me enough to click on a link in the chat box. So whoever is doing this type of advertisement is really tricky and knows a lot about FB. Just a warning to anyone who hasn't seen this before. Ask your friend a question or two to find out if it is really them or a bot of some sort.

Take care out there on the web.

-Quincy

Facebook Diet

As of August 15, 2010 I am taking a break from Facebook. I don't know when I'll return if ever. It is tiring to say in the least. I'm sure most wont even notice I'm gone but if you would like to reach me I will still be online just not at Facebook. I will have my twitter, tumblr, and blogger accounts active as they do not require so much attention and have utter amounts of time invested in them. In twitter I can post whenever and do just that leave a post. Tumblr is a good way to get with the old, I have rediscovered "the Oldies" and am loving it.

So as I don't have my facebook up it shall suffice to post to just tumblr as it is linked to my twitter and that makes life easy.

-Quincy

France Summer Trip 2010

I've finally returned from 4 weeks of wonderful an uplifting France. I went with my two parents and a friend/Uncle John Vasconcellos. I have been to France twice before, the first time gave me quite the scare after being sick and throwing up in an apartment in Paris, the second time I went back was with my dad where we stayed in a French Country home south of Paris and near Saumur. This trip by far was the best. Two weeks at Verneuil-en-Halatte (link to map) The family we stayed with had this enormous house and a huge back yard, at least half an acre, with a big pool. It's hard to say what part of that place was the best but I'm going to say the pool. They had a fabulous covered-patio with sliding glass windows. We had many a dinner on that patio which was quite nice. After staying at the 3-story house in Verneuil-en-Halatte we drove south to a small cottage of 17 people called Ligne. This is where the gite, French country farm house, is located. Everything we ate there was local. We hand picked the fruit and vegetables (e.g. Zucchini and plums) and took the eggs from the chickens. We went to the local markets around town and walked to the winery down the street and tasted wine.

Its weird being away at another country where food and drink is taken to its limits in taste that anybody can enjoy. Yet in the U.S. I can't even order a beer with my cheeseburger, yet. Just below is part of the Eiffel Tower and if you click it you will find the rest of the pictures of France we took this trip. If you ever get the chance to go to France, take it. You will not be displeased. Paris is a city everyone should get the chance to enjoy and eat a real baggette. Enjoy!

France Trip 2010

Fascist Phone Companies

At&t has Apple and it's iPhone (for now) which is very stylish and neat. The iPhone comes nicely wrapped which tries to hide the fact that you're using At&t's grade-B network and com towers. Here's an article relating the history of At&t and Apple which includes a line "Apple isn't happy with AT&T's flimsy network infrastructure; meanwhile, AT&T, though certainly happy with the increased profits it's gained thanks to the iPhone... " Even Apple knows At&t blows.

Verizon -- (At&t's rival) Here's a commercial where Verizon bashes At&t's coverage -- has the Android system fathered by Apple's rival Google...hmmm.... seeing any similarities, -- I know I'm a little biased here in that I favor Google way, way over Apple, but for good reason which I wont get into right now -- Now Android has flash, lets you download whatever app you want and in the new release 2.2 you can even tether devices and create your own wifi hotspot. pretty neato. But Verizon in all its wisdom has decided users wont get that function and will most likely charge for it later in the future, WTF! Gar! That makes me angry for all the users out there who have paid for a service that's incomplete and it should be included FOR FREE. The phone is capable and the people are too, the only people who seem to be incapable are the phone companies. Why can't we just get the phone we want and the company we want to go with?

-Quincy

Off to France

Gonna be leaving to France this Friday. So I'll be taking plenty of pictures like I did last time. Here are some pics I took last time I went. It was lots of fun and I plan on having lots more fun cooking and eating and visiting friends. I'll try to keep in touch but I wont be trying to hard so see ya and talk to you in a month.

France Trip Summer 08

Should I get that new phone?

I'm sure you have asked yourself that question within the last few weeks. I know I have. It seems like the phone companies are announcing the latest and greatest phone every few days. Apple just rolled out their new IPhone 4, which is already getting sued over bad signal reception. http://bit.ly/bmmu8d Next you have a fairly new company called HTC popping out smartphones like popcorn. Their newest creation the HTC Evo 4G is connected with Sprint and their new wimax network.

So it seems like the question is should I wait or should I get it now? My answer to you is if you need a new phone like the screen is broken or your plan is about to come up than yes by all means get yourself in that boat and you could be showing everybody the new features of the IPhone, but if your half-way through your plan keep your old phone its not like their gonna stop making new phones for you to enjoy. I myself am still carrying a HTC Eris which seems archaic by now and my standards. What I want is for the networks to be running at least 4G because the phones themselves are great by the networks not so much. They need to catch up and hopefully starting next year we will have that and than we will hear Japan calling out to their 5G networks.