Object Interview

1. Describe the object. Be very literal and descriptive.
This object is a 30g movie iPod. it has a purple cover on it that is covered with colorful dots. The dots consist of orange, purple, green, pink, light blue and blue, white and red. Only the front of the object has the purple covering; the back is black. It seems that the cover just slips right over the iPod.
2. This object is used to listen to music. It has a head phone all at the top so that she could listen to her music through the headphone and only she will here. It looks like she got this object about a year or two ago. it looks like she keeps it in her pocketbook or bag by the fact that there are a few scratches on the cover and the screen. i think she received this object for a birthday or Christmas gift.
3. from this object i think that this person loves to listen to music. i think she likes all types of music to have an iPod, because you can put any type of music on it that you may like. from the cover that was placed on the object she must like to be very protective of her things. however since she does have this purple colorful poka doted cover placed on this object it leads me to believe that she is a cheerful happy person. the cover of this iPod seems really happy and exciting. I think that this person probably lives on campus to have a iPod in her pocketbook so that she could listen to it on her way walking to class from her dorm.
Interview Questions
1. When and why did you decide to get this ipod? was it a gift? 2 years ago a gift for mom and aunt for feb 14 cause she needed it for school
2. What made you put a cover on the ipod? can plug into computer. it always stays on. first cover scratched bad and uses object often
3.why this one in particular? on clearance and really cute. easy to get in and out
4. Do you enjoy having this iPod? why? sometimes, cause hate batteries dying and head phone broken has to much on stuff on it. wants a ipod make over. headphone don't always work. mostly used for storage
5. When do you use this object the most? voice lesson and practicing music, when warming up
6. What type of things do you have on this object? pictures, movies, tv shows, rehearsals that have been in, voice lessons, classes that have been recorded, music
7. Do you think that it would be difficult for you if you were to lose this object? yes because alot of personal things are inside, auditions since freshman and used daily to warm up, history record of all progress, good reference tool.
8. question i havent asked? favorite thing: can take really good recording with one object but mostly used as a voice recorder.

Katelyn received her ipod as a gift about two years ago from her mom and aunt as a Valentine's Day present. She needed the ipod for school because it was very convenient to have. She store everything you could possibly think of on her ipod. She has pictures, movies, television shows, music, rehearsals, voice lessons and classs that have been recorded on it. She uses her ipod daily and decided to place the cover on it to protect it. The first cover she ever got was horrible and use to constantly scratch her ipod. This one is alot more convenient, allowing her to take it on and off easily and also allowing her to plug her headphones in and plug it up to the computer while the case is still on. She choose this purple colorful poka dotted cover because it was on clearance at the time and she thought it was cute.
Katelyn uses her ipod for everything. while you may think a ipod is normally used for storing music and listening to your stored music for entertainment well you are wrong. Katelyn uses her ipod to

Career Path Expectations

My current career path is Actuarial Science. I am very interested to do the interview of someone in our field so that i could find out all the things i might not know. I assume that an actuary works in a office of some type of firm. I know they mostly work with insurance companies; however, society has been demanding them in new companies now. according to the jobs almanac for 2004, actuary was rated the number two job for the last couple of years. Being an actuary is supposed to be a lot less stressful than lawyers and doctors but with the same pay. I love math and actuarial science is the best career that satisfies that for me. I think a day as an actuary would consist of an 8-9 hr non stressful day, in an office or meeting dealing with numbers. I believe actuaries have numerous meeting to discuss proposals and new ideas to manage risk. To become an actuary requires a passing grade on at least two or more of the designated tests, and knowledge of statistics, math and probability. I constantly read that most jobs look for a minimum gpa of at least a 3.0.

Academic Research Questions

So far my academic research paper is not started however, I have all my notes, sources, and thoughts ready to be written down an put together. Last night after gathering the last little bit of my sources and taking notes on them, i tried to start my paper and i had no idea where to begin. some questions i have for the professor and my group members is how exactly should i start my academic research paper. of course i know to start off with an introduction. But what would make a great opening sentence that would be sure to draw the reader in? my topic is not a playful, amusing or even happy topic; its sad and ridiculous. so how do you pull an audience into that? another question i have is, is the thesis of my paper well organized and to the point? i looked up how to write an academic research paper online, but it wasnt that helpful; how should i go about organizing my work and is all the info i have purposeful?

Research Update

I am currently changing my research idea to something related to one of my minors, Psychology or business. As of today I have chosen psychology because the main aspect of psychology is research and what else would be better than to research things that are currently being studied and debated upon. Psychology has so many issues and problems so thinking of where to begin was quite a challenge. I am very interested in multi-personality disorder and schizophrenia. while they are both beyond interesting i think i will choose schizophrenia. schizophrenia has many challenges

Resarch Brainstorm

There are many issues, topics, and current concerns that are related to my field. The most focus in my field of actuarial science is all about risk. Risk varies in be forms and virtually can be anything. Everything in life consists of some type of risk and therefore there's a little "actuary" in everyone. Risk by definition is the quantifiable likihood of loss or less than expected returns.

There is a lot of focus on life insurance companies, and casualty insurances as well. Insurance companies in general are very popular in the field of actuarial science, and one of the main focus in my field because they are in the greatest need for an actuaries assistance. Actuaries try to manage risk and financial loss to companies the work for. Actuaries play a major part all over the economy in banks, insurance company, retirement funding and much more.

Another main idea or focus for my field is what exactly an actuary is. Whenever the term actuary or actuarial science is used I always get the same response of what do they do, where do they work? There are so many different questions that come up about an actuary and i think the biggest issue or focus in my field is getting the awareness of this field out there. Once understanding who and actuary is and what they do will cover every other issue that may be looked at. Think of risk for example. If risk was not an issue there would be no use for actuaries.
Actuaries use their background knowledge of statistics, finance, and business to assess and manage the risk of a particular event occurring. They help create policies that minimize risk and its financial loss to companies and clients. One of the main functions of actuaries is to help businesses assess the risk of certain events occurring and formulate policies that minimize the cost of that risk; this is why actuaries are essential to the insurance industry. Actuaries assemble and analyze data to estimate the probability and likely cost of an event. Events that cause a lot of loss are things like death, sickness, injury, disability, or loss of property.
Actuaries also address financial questions, including those involving the level of pension contributions required to produce a certain retirement income level and the way in which a company should invest resources to maximize return on investments in light of potential risk. They determine the life expectancy of clients looking to purchase life insurance and help in determining the persons monthly or annual premium if the company was to cover them. Using their broad knowledge of statistics, finance, and business, actuaries help design insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial strategies in a manner which will help ensure that the plans are maintained on a sound financial basis.

Scenario Proposal Draft

Many people have numerous questions to how the cost of life insurance is determined and why some people insurance is worth more than others. What makes two healthy people around the same age have different life expectancies according to life insurance companies?
Well to help answer some of these questions and give the community a better understanding, i will use Life Expectancy graphs. As all of us know, these graphs are a major use in our field to determine different types of risk; so that we can manage it.
Life Expectancy graphs are used to show a person life expectancy according to their lifestyle. They could be made towards a particular person's lifestyle or towards a group or population of specific people; take smoking for example.
(smoking male graph)
This graph shows you the probability, at your current age, to make it to either 60, 70, or 80.
Some of you smokers out there might think or feel that this is okay or pretty good. Well actually its not compared to people that do not smoke. This is what insurance companies look at when they determine how much your premiums are going to e monthly or annually. Now here is graph of non-smoking males to let you get a better understanding.
(non-smoking graph)
This graph shows the same thing however is directed towards non-smokers. it looks a lot better.
Even though I used the same graph, they each showed something different. This shows us how important these graphs are used in our field. Hopefully after using the probability graph to answer some of these questions, the citizens, retirees and community will have a better understanding. Life expectancy is the largest risk factor that insurance companies look at.
For those of you who might not know me, my name is Adrianna Stephens and I am studying Actuarial Science. I will be attending the Riverhead Town Hall once a month for the next three months or so to discuss life insurance with some of the Seniors and soon to be retirees in town. I will be discussing and answering the most common questions about life insurance in my presentation. Using different types of probability graphs to show why life insurance may cost so much and why different people may receive more. I will explain to the audience their potential loss and the companies potential loss to help them get an understanding to a variety of their questions and curiosities.

Visual Representations

In my field, visual representations are used everyday. There are numerous types of representations of information used for many different things. The most used representation, i would have to say is graphs. Actuaries use graphs to calculate information and data as well as store and provide information with others. Graphs are used because they are easily read when presenting information. There are many different types of graphs; for example line graphs, sattered plots, bar graphs, pie graphs and probablity graphs. Probability graphs are probably the most frequently used by actuaries. I say this because actuaries use probability and statistics to determine the risk factors of certain outcomes. The green graph at the top of the page is an example of a probability graph.

Actuarial Science

Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and finance to study uncertain future events. They use their skills to minimize potential risk on both sides of the chart; meaning companies and clients. Minimize risk and its financial impact on companies and clients. Actuarial Science uses a plethora of different visual aids throughout the day, to make their job a lot easier. Actuaries use visuals like graphs, numbers, statistics, Excel, chart and PowerPoint.

One of the main purposes of an actuary is to help businesses manage the risk of certain events occurring and create policies that minimize the cost of that risk. To do this they use numerous mathematical equations and charts to show both the client and company the easiest way to lower the risk costs. They use PowerPoint in meetings to present the information and policies they formulate. Actuaries gather and analyze data to estimate the probability and likely cost of an event such as death, sickness, injury, disability, or loss of property; that is why they are a great asset to Insurance Companies. To make this data easily understood they use tables and charts to organize the information. Actuaries help design insurance policies, pension plans, and other financial strategies in an approach which will help ensure that the plans are maintained on a sound financial basis. They produce probability tables or use more sophisticated modeling techniques that determine the likelihood that a potential event will generate a claim. From these tables, they estimate the amount a company can expect to pay in claims.

Actuaries are constantly growing in numbers and becoming more useful for extended reason for companies outside of insurance. While their numbers grow so does technology; therefore the number of visuals will soon be greatly increasing also.

Memoir Readings

Memoir by Katelyn Saxton
I would summarize Katelyn's memoir as being very interesting. She has always wanted to be a singer and perform for people her whole life, well since elementary school. Her greatest inspiration was the Little Mermaid. I learned that Katelyn is a singer and has always loved to sing.Her grandparents live Florida and she loved visiting them because they always took her to Witchi- Watchi, which is an amusement park that she said "is similar to sea world but ten times better." The author kept it short and simple and got straight to the point. I thought it was so adorable how the Little Mermaid has been her inspiration.

My Memoir by Steven Seharzer
Steven's memoir was very, very interesting. It was about his family and the way the family as a whole as pushed him to pushed psychology. When I say pushed I don't mean by that's what they want him to study but more as their actions have lead him to want to study the human psyche. I learned that Steven has an abnormal family. he is a psychology major because he wants to know why his family is the way they are. He recently lost his grandmother and grandfather; and shared the horrible memory of the way his family reacted. Steven gave a brief background on everybody that he mentioned in the memoir and then gave one big example of when his family was at its worst. I think he tied the whole paper up very well in the conclusion and I loved the great detail throughout the memoir.

My Memoir

I am proud that my memoir turned out to be a decent story. Before the assignment, I never thought about why I choose to go down the career path that I am headed for. My memoir was a good way to think about to why this decision was made and whether or not it was a good decision. Even though I have somewhat of a reason to why I choose the career path I did, I wish that I had a better reason or actually story to tell that was very appealing. For example how people become doctors because they were diagnosed with something really young and they want to find a cure or something along that line. I could have made up a story but I decided to go down another road with my memoir. I learned that everything isn't always handed over to people, whether its fame, wealth, ideas or whatever else it might be. There are somethings such as career choices that you do need to research. Everyone does not become a doctor because it runs in their family. A career choice is something for the individual to choice and decide.

Hi today!

During this last year I have been in attendance at George Mason University, where I have met numerous new people. Everyday there is a new face, a new name and a new person to meet. One person in particular that I just recently meet is a young girl that also goes to Mason. Her name is Antionette W. I meet her about a two or three months ago. Antionette is 20 years old and currently a junior here at Mason. She is about 5'3 and Afican America. Antionette is medium brown like the color of hot chocolate. She currently has her hair in twists but that is not an all the time thing. She wears glasses, is very stylish and up to date with fashion. Most of the time, if she is wearing sneakers they are Jordans. Antionette might look to have an attitude or be mean, but she is really a nice preson. Antionette is very outgoing, outspoken, speaks whats on her mind, energetic, courageous, down to earth girl. Antionette is the type of person who will say whatever is on her mind, whether it will offend you or not. She feels that if its something that needs to be said than why not say it. Over these last couple of months Antionette and I have become very close and our friendship continues to grow.

Listen

Hello!
Today I learned that if you take the time out to sit and listen for a little part of your day, you'll hear things you'd never know where there. When I say listen, I don't quite mean just listen to someone talk. Listening, in fact is one of the keys to life I believe. Well anyway, today I sat in my living room of Patriot Village dorm for an hour with no phone, TV, or computer to just listen to my surroundings. At first I heard the usually things that you would hear in an apartment. I heard some soft conversation going on in one of my roommates rooms. I only heard one voice so I assume it was one of my roommates on a phone call. I heard some music playing and a television on also. I wasn’t able to recognize the music that was playing but I did recognize the television show that was on, Hell Date from BET. I heard the heat come on and start blowing from the vent in the floor. At one point a roommate took a shower and I heard the water running, something drop in the shower and when the water stopped I heard the toilet flush. Now besides those usually things that happen in an apartment, I heard the rain outside beating along the side of the trailer. I heard someone outside the window go to the garbage to throw something out. The garbage top made a big bang sound. The trailer creaked a little bit, but I noticed it was mostly when someone was walking around. I heard some cars drive by every now and then but not that often. After doing this exercise, I realized that a lot more goes on around me than I ever thought of, or paid attention to before. Silence definitely is never truly silence; however, merely just the things that you block out.

Today's Observations

On the way to class today I seen a lot of things. I never really paid attention before to actaully stop and look to see what's going on around me. English 302 is my frist class on Wednesdays. I left my room this morning, in Patriot Village, to walk to English in Innovation. I normally come through a path or two bout today I had a little etra time so I decided to go through the Johnson Center. As I left my room on this "journey to class" I walked down the hill by the P.E. building and seen some construction going on. I'm not sure exactly what they were doing but the closer to the bottom of the hill I got the more dust and smoke it seemed like I was walking through. I crossed the street at the crosswalk and seen only one car. The car was green and I think it was a Pontiac; it was approaching me on my left. I got across the street and started to head down the path where I seen the Student Apartment in front of me towards the left and the parking garage towards the right. I was walking down the path, which had numerous trees on both sides of it and i remeber seeing a squirrel run across the path in front of me. I continued to walk through the path until I came up to the parking garge where I seen a blue garbage can on my right next to the doorway of the parking garage. As I continued to walk I slowly seen that I was approaching the Johnson Center, JC. There was also other buildings in my eye sight; such as Harris Theatre, Student Union one and the Performing Arts bulding. I walked up towards the JC and passed the George Mason staute outside with the two plaks on the ground. I walked around them, went into the JC behind a young lady who did not hold the door open for the person behind her. I got into the JC and seen numerous amounts of people. I noticed that there was lines everywhere because I wanted to get a water but could not. I seen a boy sitting outside the LaPat eating Chinese food. I continued to walk pass a lot of people until I got to Innovation where I had to walk up some stairs.

Most Recent Dream

My most most recent dream was definitely last night. I remember waking up this morning saying that I couldn't wait to talk to my boyfriend to tell him about it; we always share crazy dreams. But it always seems that if I don't share the dream right away i always forget most of it, well at least the best parts. So I guess I'll tell you about a different dream that I fully remember. In my most recent remembered dream I was at my best friend, Ashleigh's, house. Her parents had went on some type of vacation and I assume and had left her home alone. She had decided to throw a party and there was so many people there. It was people from High School, people from George Mason and then people I had no idea who they were. Now when i say there was people there that I know some was by face because in my dream they had different names and then there were others that had names of people I knew but looked totally different. Well anyway after the party started it kind of got a little out of control. I remember everyone drinking and acting crazy. Ashleigh and I had went outside to tell people they needed to start getting ready to leave and then all of a sudden there was a firetruck coming down the street with the sirens going off and everything. It stopped in front of Ashleigh's house and like five of our High School football players jumped out. I'm not sure why or how somethings in my dreams happen but next thing I knew was that me and Ashleigh were in a car driving down this long, dark, wilderness looking road. We were just driving; I assume we had left her house to get away from the party and craziness. Yes, I know what your thinking it was her house, but that's what I mean about not knowing how or why things in my dream happen. Well anyway as we were driving we get pulled over. The cop got out the car and placed a gun to Ashleigh's head and told her she had been drinking. Ashleigh denies as the officer told her that she had to take a sobriety test. When she went to get out the car the officer shot her. I then somehow woke myself up from that horrible dream.

Passions and Interests

Hello Again!
It’s quite funny that I was asked to write about things that I am passionate about and interested. I say this because I often ask myself the question why don’t I have any passions if I do how come they’re not that strong. To have a passion for something and to be interested in something is two different things. Being passionate about something I interpret as being in love with, while having an interest in something is to like or enjoy it.
I always look at my sister, Kymberlee, who is four years younger than me and then start to think about my passions and interests. Looking at her makes me think about my interests and passions because I see how passionate she is about certain things like dancing, cheerleading, praise dancing at church and singing; then I wonder why I was never like that. On TV, in the media and our everyday lives we see people who have a passion for something and they will work day after day to become the best that they can be just because they enjoy it. I often tell my mom it was her fault. If you’re wondering why, it’s because I think that most people who are greatly passionate about something start it while they are still young. I tried to tell my mom if she put my in gymnastics, dance or some type of lessons than I would be passionate about something other than talking on the phone. However, I know that it’s really not her fault; I just like to joke about it.
When it comes to my true passions well I don’t know where to start. My passions are only temporary. I’ve never been passionate about something and stuck with it. I was once passionate about track and volleyball but that shortly ended within about three years. I went to volleyball camps and ran on my spare time just for fun. Then I was told that I had developed exercise induced asthma and I let it take over. I started to get scared to run because I might have an asthma attack. I was scared to go out for volleyball the following year because I knew how much running the tryouts would consist of. That’s when what I thought was a passion ended. Now thinking back I would say it was a passion at the time but I let medical reasons allow me to let go of them. I know wish all the time that I would of fought through and worked as hard as I could have; maybe I would of out grew the asthma.
On the other hand I have many interests. I like to shop, talk on the phone, hang out with my friends and boyfriend, go to parties, relax, read, go to the beach and play sports. I consider all of these things to be interests instead of passions because I feel as I can go without them if I needed to. If I had considered them as passions I would be in love with them and feel as if I was lost without. To be passionate about something you need to enjoy doing it and have a great love for. Right now in my life I cannot say that I have any serious passions.

Earliest Memory

People always claim to say that the youngest child has it the worst, especially when there is more than one older sibling. My earliest memory will takes us back years; maybe 12 or 13 years ago. I was about seven or eight years old and at the time I lived in Peekskill, NY with my parents, my little sister, Kymberlee, and my two older half brothers Micheal and Moshe. It was around Christmas time and we were all so excited to get our presents. I remember going to the store on the corner so that we could get milk to put out that night with the cookies out the blue round tin for Santa Clause.
Christmas morning had came and we got up around 6am. My sister had opened one of her presents and I immediately was drawn to it but I didn't say anything at the time. We continued to open present after present after present and I was content with them all, but i just knew in my mind that I had to have the present my sister had first opened. That's when it all started i had to somehow convince her that the present she had opened was meant for me and not her. When thinking about it now it is funny to think that I could have even pulled this off. After we started playing wit the many toys that we had received that day I started to work on my plan. I first told her that the doll that Mommy and Daddy gave her was the one I had wanted and for some reason they wrote the wrong name on the present. She didn't fall for it at first; and claimed that i was wrong because she wanted it. I then went and got a doll from under the tree that I had got for Christmas and told her that was the doll she had wanted and that we could both get what we wanted if we just switched our dolls. Now she slightly started to fall for my plan, I knew I just had to push it a little more. I told her that the doll I had got was better anyway because she had longer hair and prettier clothes. After that she was sure to switch and my plan had been successful.
Now that she has seen the videotape from that Christmas I never hear the end of it.

Experience with Research

HI!
My experience with research so far as been quite successful. When I had to first do a research project it was quite interesting. i didn't know where exactly to start or what to do but after getting the hand of things it turned out to be fine. My biggest problems with research projects is the proper way to cite and do a work cited or bibliography page. Actually doing research is not a problem. I think that is a good way to learn about interesting facts that you never knew before, or may have never even thought about.
Last semester in my religion 100 class, we had to write a ten page research term paper. At first I thought wow what am I going to write about for ten pages, but once it got started information was almost jumping out at me. When it comes to research papers or projects many people may think that its the worst thing in the world; me on the other hand, I actually like them. I would have to say research papers are in my top five favorite types of writing styles.

A Little About Me

Hello,
My name is Adrianna Stephens. I am 19 years old from Long Island, NY. a sophomore at George Mason University majoring in Mathematics with an Actuarial concentration and a minor in business and psychology. I am very outgoing, friendly, ready to learn, motivated, talented young lady. I love problem solving and figuring out answers to any situation. I am always eager to learn and want to be the best I can me.
When thinking about writing, some people freak out and get nervous or scared. I on the other hand do not mind it. I might sometimes put it off or start over a couple of times because I don’t quite know exactly what to write or how to start. If anything the hardest part of writing is where to start. I sometimes find myself just writing whatever comes to mind and then going back at the end to rewrite or fix my introduction. When it comes to writing I love to express feelings. I have found out that when I write about things that mean a lot to me or something that I can personally relate to my writing is a lot better. I feel as if I am a very strong writer, decent grammar and punctuation; however, I am bad with spelling.
I have learned many different tactics used for writing throughout school. I think my greatest experience I’ve had with writing was during my freshmen year in English 100. We learned numerous ways to fix, better, and make the most of our writing pieces. We were asked to write about anything we wanted or that came to mind once a week for at least four hours. Each week we learned another technique that would better the piece we would write. When writing we were to use that technique and any other techniques from previous weeks. At the end of the semester we put together a portfolio and had to revise a number of pieces.
My best piece seemed to have been a very personal piece. The piece was very emotional, touching and composed of great detail. This piece was about my experience of losing my best friend in a motorcycle accident. I had never really talked o anyone about it before. I used to keep my feelings about the situation to myself and it was breaking me down. When given the opportunity to write a personal piece I felt that would be a start to letting some of my emotions out.
I never really thought about how I am as a writer, but I would have to say it all depends on what it is that I am writing. I think that I am stronger in different types of writing. I like research papers and personal papers, where I can write about what I want. Like a lot of people I plan to continue to prove my writing as much as possible. As much as I would like to say that I am an excellent writer it I know that I’m not and there is always space and time for improvement.

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