Canon t2i

I finally got my Canon t2i in the mail yesterday! I played around with it last night and was really impressed at how sharp and crisp the images were. I’m only using the stock lens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS), but I have plans on adding at least two more lens. I’m thinking of getting a EF-S 55 – 250mm f/4 – f/5.6 IS for the zoom feature and a “nifty fifty” for portraits.

I’ve also opened a flickr account and will be uploading most of my pictures onto that site. You can check it out at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xodia1/

Below is my very first shot with the t2i! Enjoy!

EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
TV: 1/8
AV: 4.5
ISO: 100

Plans

It’s been really hectic lately…

Recently, I picked up a part time data entry job, so I really have no time for myself. I’ve been trying to manage my time and I think I found a really good balance mixing work with the gym and studying for the A+ certification exam.

Next month is Memorial Day! 3 day weekend and I’m planning on go to New York City for 3 days and 2 nights! I’m looking to buy a DSLR Canon t2i camera really soon and I’m pretty stoked about it. Never got into photography, but I’m sure that will change.

Hopefully, my next update here, I will have my t2i and will post some pictures on this site as well.

Networking key to job hunt – Chicago Sun-Times

Here’s a great article about networking and staying positive!

Networking key to job hunt – Chicago Sun-Times.

keep it cool

Here’s a song that’s been stuck in my head:

I love the hook that Lupe raps, it really means a lot to me. I just got to keep it strong and keep my head up.

I’mma keep it cool, and I’mma do me
It is what it is and that’s how it’s gon’ be
Until I get there
Until I get there
And yeah I got flaws, I know I’m not perfect
But all ups and downs, will soon be worth it
When I get there
When I get there

Update

It’s been a long time since I last updated my blog, so I’ll get you up to speed on how I am doing.

I gave up on trying to make money off this blog because it’s not working out and I don’t have a clue on what I’m doing. I also don’t have a domain for my blog, so I can’t really modify the codes to make it optimal for SEO or changing page templates.

Currently, I’m working for a recruiting company doing data entry work. I’ve been working there for a year and a couple months and I’m in disbelief how long I’ve been working there. I’m really unhappy with where I am at now, so I have been applying to jobs in the IT field, such as web development and analyst positions. I’ve had a couple of phone interviews this past month that lead to in-person interviews, but that is as far as it goes. I’m really frustrated with the rejections that I’m getting from companies and I don’t understand why I’m not a  good fit.

I’m seriously contemplating in going back to community college to take classes for A.S. in Computer Science. Maybe this degree combined with my B.S. in IDS will be able to get me a career in IT. I don’t know what tomorrow might bring, but I got to be ready for the challenges ahead of me.

Yahoo Article

Cool! I found an article about my career in Yahoo. They say that IT is one of the most in demand, but it sure don’t feel like it… I haven’t got a good catch yet in the job market.

Here is the link: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_top_5_hardest_jobs_to_fill_in_america-1057

Update

It’s the second day of this “getting paid blogging” experiment and so far, I am not getting paid… =/ I signed up for Google AdSense and found out that I have to input an HTML code into WordPress, but the problem is that I need to get my own separate domain to edit this WordPress template (more work for me, yay!). I’ll have to take care of that over the weekend or whenever I have the time.

Anyways, I was reading this article online, “Love Story“, from Entrepreneur and they made a really good point about people not knowing what they love to do and choose to work for the money, despite the fact that they hate it. This is where I stand right now, not knowing what I love to do and just picking up any part-time work that I can find. It’s not my choice to work part-time, but a majority of the jobs that I’ve been interviewed are part-time. Hopefully, I’ll get a break and work full-time with benefits! That’ll be the day…

Here’s another quote, from the same article ,that I find interesting:

“…many [people] don’t choose a business based on work they love. We’ve determined four productive “paths” people take: building on a passion; following a sense of mission, which often grows out of a desire to right a wrong; drawing on a talent; and capitalizing on an asset, such as equipment or contacts.”

Out of these four productive paths, I believe I am on a mission because I am in a deep hole; I’m trying to climb my way back to the top and not live a stressful life. That is my mission and plan. Until next time, peace!

Experiment – Make Money Blogging

Okay, I’ve spent a majority of my day researching about how to make money through blog. Why? I forgot to mention in the About Me section that I am a super broke college graduate student, so I am looking for any opportunity to make money to pay off my credit card and college loans. Now the question is will I be successful at making money from blogging? Being the pessimistic me, the answer will be “nope”, but it doesn’t hurt to try and see how far I can get. Here are some sites that got me motivated:

• Dosh Dosh
• Broke Grad Student
• Steve Pavlina

The methods and procedures to make money from a blog ties into what I am doing at work, which is SEO and web design. So, this gives me more time learning more about optimizing websites. The only initiatives I’ve done so far was to register with Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo Site Explorer, and Bing Webmaster Center. I also submitted my blog to blogsurfer.us, so I’m getting some hits of them! Now I got to research more about how to get more traffic in and then generate profit… Until next time, peace!

Contemplating…

I’ve been contemplating about going back to school and getting another degree in something that is computer related. The only problem I have is that I’m broke, so I might have to take out another loan (which sucks =/); and I’m not too sure if this is the route I still want to take. I mean, I’m good at analyzing and fixing things hands-on, but is this something that will keep me interested for the rest of my life? I don’t want to regret spending more money in something I don’t know what to do with, like the bachelor’s degree that I have.

The IDS program in UIC SUCKS ASS! They are not up-to-date with the technology that is out there and it is way too business focus. I wish I had taken a Database Administrator course, during my undergrad, just so I can get a feel about how I will fit in. I mean every business needs data to be managed, maintained, and sorted, so why not offer a undergrad course? It’s bullshit how they only teach it to the MIS students.

Anyways, the possible courses/careers that I might want to take are:

• Database Adminsitrator
• Systems Analyst
• Webmaster

The job that I currently have right now is more geared towards Webmaster and I feel that I’m not creative in piecing art and technology together. I got to take more time outs and figure out what I want to do… Until next time!

Back to Business

It’s been a while since I last blog, so I’m going to update you guys with some updates in my life.

I’ve been working as an IT intern for an e-commerce company located up in Northbrook and my responsibilities was to troubleshoot any bugs the webpage might have, create an application where I can automate Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and I also had some exposure to analytics. I’ve only been there for a month, but it’s been a fun and great experience. Now this company has been in business for about 4 months, so it is truely a small start-up company and everybody can be seen in one floor unlike huge corporate office where there are like 20 floors. So, the CEO, VP’s, and the employees has the opportunity to see each other on a daily basis and find out how everyone is doing. I love the atmosphere because everyone is so open. Unfortunately, my time was up after one month, but I learned a lot from working with everyone in this company.

As soon as one door closes, another door opens. About a week before I left my last internship, I was hired as a part-time IT/webmaster for a company located in Downers Grove. This company is a small unorganized company and they are also looking for opportunities and success, so they hired me because they saw potential. I’m only working there on Monday’s and Thursday’s, but hopefully I will be working full-time. For now, my responsibilites includes: creating landing pages, webpages, and learning about SEO and soon to implement it into there webpage.

I had a meeting with a company that specializes in SEO and I never realized how important it was to the success for a company. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and what this basically does is it allows webpages to show up on the very first page on search engines, such as Google, Bing, etc. So, essentially, if your webpage was number one or on the first search page on Google, then you have control of the market because people are more than likely to click on that first link and not on like the 10th page. If you have a nice, fancy, webpage and no hits, then you don’t have business, so by optimizing your webpage it helps draw customers into your webpage. I’m still learning the language of SEO, but I see that it is a demand for companies and also on freelancing forums.