Finish Strong, Not Crippled Professor Ramos Blog

Finish Strong, Not Crippled The back of an ambulance is the very last place I would have imagined I would be in. Who would have thought, the fast shining Athlete of the Year would meet such a tragic ending. The more I think about the horrific event or should I say, events, the more one realizes to enjoy each and every last moment. The former student athlete known for breaking records and dominating the competition was just across the hall with one minor difference. This track and field stud just happened to be in a wheelchair. From the unseen Athlete of the Year to the guy everyone now calls â€Å"hot wheels.† My close friends decided to bestow upon me the nickname, â€Å"hot wheels† as I will be remembered as the person who ran from the start line to the finish line, but in my own terms. Those terms being in a wheelchair. There would be several moments where my friends occasionally came up to me and asked, â€Å"You think you can shoot me a ride?† Without a doubt the most joyful part of be ing in a wheelchair due to the fact that I actually gave them a ride. Being able to open my mind to even the most unthinkable of events has literally both saved and endangered my life. I have always heard the saying All good things come to an end. I just never imagined it would happen to me. With the help of several companions I had the honor of meeting have helped me along the way. Before I get to how I became Hot Wheels, let me start where it all happened. My San Gorgonio High School experience would have been nothing without extra curricular activities. Sports as well as clubs made high school bearable. The sport which I love the most, soccer, did not go very well for me. Lets just say the varsity soccer coach and I had our differences in ideas. This all led to him booting me from playing during my last two years of high school. Although soccer was a bust, the one year I had the honor of participating in, I was able to meet some really great people. My best friend, Luis,who happened to be one of those individuals, who has also been doing Track as well as Cross Country attempted to persuade me to join Track and Cross Country with him. Month after month, all I would hear is â€Å"Ellis, stop being a little bitch and join track [and cross country]!† Believe it or not, Luis attempted to persuade me from the beginning of my sophomore year to the middle of m y junior year. As time flew by I realized, I would rather spend my time doing sports than doing nothing at home. So the day finally arrived, I listened to Luis’ advice. Luis never failed to remind me that it was never too late to join. The end of my junior year was the time where I finally came to my senses. After what some may call peer pressure, I attended my first ever informational track meeting. While meeting my future coaches as well as teammates, I was all in for what I was getting myself into. Track is split up into several events, many of which include: sprints, long distance, hurdles, jumps and throws. Due to my experience with resistance running in soccer, I joined distance. After several hours and hours of practice have been put in, the closer I have been able to get to my teammates as well as to Pablo Torres, my distance coach. I have never in my life met a group of more welcoming and cheerful faces.   The more practice I put in, the more I realized track is nothing like I imagined it. I imagined just running until you finish the race. I did not know that there is a special way to run, there is strategy involved, and that the willingn ess to fight against the pain are all included. Due to my history of medical problems, I was used to fighting through the pain that comes with hustling. I began to learn that you are not supposed to strike your heel first when you run. That is exactly what I did. As a runner, I am supposed to make my toes touch the track first in order to launch me forward. Swinging my arms is something I did not think much of until I got to track. Swinging your arms at the same pace of your running pace can actually make a big difference. After hours of individual training one on one with Coach Torres, I was able to make some improvement, but I just could not fix my habits of my way of running. As track season progressed, our first race was among us. As expected, I was the most nervous person ever, considering it was my first ever track race. The time came to adjust to this new sport.   My race which was yet to be called next, the 400meter race which was 1 lap, ended in a reasonable fashion as I came in 3rd. It was not bad for my 1st ever race. However, there was one problem, the head coach that was not aware I had a talent for long distance races, threw me into a sprinter’s race. Since there was way too many participants in track, the head coach did not know who is running what race. As the second track meet started, Coach Sanchez and Torres both decided to make it their responsibility to put me int the correct race and put me in the mile race. While the season progressed, so did my work ethic, therefor my race day performance was both shocking and outstanding. Starting from the very back, I worked my way to the top. As the race came down to the last lap, it was t ime to show what I was made of. My strategy has since been born along with my coach’s famous saying, â€Å"Finish Strong!† My motivation race after race was to be the best I can be. With the cheers and support from my team, nothing was impossible. Coming in at a close second, just behind the fastest runner in the history of my school in my event, I could not have been more proud of myself. Along with the self motivation I was giving myself, my teammates as well as my coaches all demonstrated how proud they were. As races kept passing, I kept performing. With the help of my teammates as well as Coach Torres, whom I was building more of friend type relationship with, pushed me to be the best I can be. Surprising enough, I was able to reach the top ten list of all time in my school in my event, which was the 1 mile and 2 mile race. I even qualified to one of the hardest events to reach: the Inland Empire Championships was the highlight of my running career. Although I did not perform as I expected, I could not have been more proud of where I was standing.   The more I continued to progress, the more and more I kept surprising everyone including myself and family. As you may know, all good things come to an end. At the very peak of my running career while I was breaking school records and qualifying for prestiges events, injuries did not go without taking its toll. Before track season even started, I suffered a concussion which took me out early on in my soccer season. While at a tournament with the team, I clashed in the air with one of my opponents which knocked me out of balance and causing me to land on my head. After I was medically cleaned and made my mark on the track, injuries made its appearance once more. While peaking, my childhood allergies got to me in a way that I could not explain. My allergies led me into the path of asthma. The part that most trifled me is that, I have always been playing sports while having bad allergies. To take care of those allergies I take daily pills to weaken the symptoms. With the asthma, the inh alers in which I was given did not help one bit. The asthma got as bad as to not even letting me run a lap without running out of breathe to the point of nearly collapsing. I visited the doctors several times, in one instant they informed me I have extreme lung deficiency. My dad went as far as to taking me to his home country of Mexico in order to get a treatment for my asthma. This doctor I visited in Mexico treated my whole family which also suffer from severe allergies and or asthma. All of which have left his office as healthy as an ox. Of course this sickness will not just vanish, but it seemed like we, my family, never had it. Being treated by this doctor really changed my life. I have had numerous occasions where I was on the floor gasping for air while praying and begging for God to not take me just yet. I could not be happier at my health progress as of now. As my injuries and health issues were once again to make its appearance, it seemed as if they were never going to go away. My senior year all went downhill. As the start of track season was looming, I was excited yet scared as what was to be expected. While the season was progressing, what I was expecting, happened. Considering the health issues I experienced the previous year, I lost a lot of the progress and experience I had gained. I went from being one of the fastest around the area to one of the slowest in my team. Sadly, it was just the start. When I was born, I had short tendons that were attached to my toes. As I got older, instead of my feet growing and my toes going down, they curled up on both feet. When reaching my 17th birthday, it seemed as if my toes were getting worse by the minute. It got so bad to the point that I could not even put on my shoes. Surgery was the drastic measures that were needed. As the end of my senior year came I had to push everything including my track season and senior activities aside. After my surgery, I was forced to spend a month and a half in a wheelchair. Thus, â€Å"hot wheels† was born. The roller coaster that is high school has taught me a variety of things. Track was without a doubt the most valuable and troublesome point in my life. Track has not only taught me to open my eyes to new experiences, but more importantly, to never stop fighting. All the blood, sweat and tears were nothing compared to the lifelong lessons I had the honor of experiencing. Attempting to adjust into a runner’s shoes was without a doubt one of the hardest things I had to ever do. I could not have done it if it were not for Luis, Coach Torres and Sanchez and my teammates that pushed and encouraged me everyday to both better myself and never stop fighting.

Taxation portfolio Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Taxation portfolio - Assignment Example It is due to this reason that students without business background often get intimidated whenever they embark of taxation as a course to study. Nonetheless, it is important to understand taxation concepts and how they impact on businesses as they prepare to enter professional practice. Globalization has forced governments to acknowledge the significance of small businesses in the present competitive markets. In this regard, governments have formulated regulations to implement numerous taxes with a view of maximizing revenue collection. Globally, small and medium enterprises are known for their contribution to economic growth, entrepreneurship and employment creation. Basically, small businesses are known universally as engines for economic growth. This paper focuses on the tax aspects of a small-scale wine business in Australia and also tax implications of individual employees. Taxation consequences This is because they stimulate economic growth and therefore, play a critical role in wealth creation. In Australia, small and medium enterprises account for 37% of economic production and employ roughly 3.7 million people. Nevertheless, similar to other small and medium enterprises across the globe, compliance with government regulations heavily impacts on their operations. This is because SME’s bear significant costs of compliance cost relative to their size. According to Hasseldine and Anold, government regulations, in particular, tax compliances are a major issue for SME’s (370). For instance, following intense political debate, the Australian government introduced good and services tax (GST) which was one of the significant tax reform policies. This was an outrage on the economic impact of GST to SME’s starting with start-up taxation costs. Compliance costs as defined by Kumar, are those costs incurred by businesses in meeting the requirements in order to comply with a given tax structure besides payment of tax itself (35). Such costs inclu de legal and other professional fees, acquisition costs among others. GST compliance costs popularly known as commencement costs are usually incurred by the business in preparation to comply with GST legislation. According to National Audit Office, SME’s forms the large component of the informal sector and are known to evade tax (44). Pope and Fernandez observed that complex tax registration, and high tax rates are the main contributing factors to problems experienced by SME’s in the Australian tax system (15). Value-Added Tax Act provides that Australian economy cannot compete effectively with other world economies when SMEs continues operating in an informal sector (9). In this vein, it is therefore, paramount to reduce the informal sector by putting in place a simplified tax system. Australian government acknowledges the significance of SMEs to the economy and has been providing support to entities falling under this group by way of reducing tax and tax compliance b urden. In addition, the government has also simplified reporting requirements and record keeping. For instance, in 2006 budget, the Australian government passed to reduce taxes on SMEs by AUS$ 435 million over the following four years. As such, SMEs continued to receive more assistance by aligning thresholds, streamlining definitions and reducing tax complexity and compliance costs. SMEs are required by law to maintain record of their sales, which includes income earned excluding GST. Tax compliance and administration

ETHICS MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ETHICS MANAGEMENT - Essay Example The individual scenarios illustrate the importance of ethics in management in their day to day activities. The CFA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is used as a guideline in resolving each given problem. The Code and Standards  serves as the ethical yardstick of investment professionals all around the world, setting aside the aspects of job title or position, cultural differences, or local laws. The values of integrity, competence, diligence, respect, and in an ethical manner with the public, clients, prospective clients, employers, employees, colleagues in the investment profession, and other participants in the global capital markets are hereby applied in the sample problems in order to resolve the ethical issues presented in this paper. Keywords: ethics management, ethical dilemma, code of ethics, professional conduct, values, global investment ETHICAL MANAGEMENT This paper presents some of the common problems encountered in the professional environment by applying CFA In stitute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct to as a guide in order to resolve the ethical dilemmas. The CFA Code of Ethics emphasizes the values of integrity, competence, respect and how to maintain professional competence by placing the interests of the clients above individual interest. On the other hand, the CFA Standards of Professional Conduct highlights the values of professionalism, duties to clients, employers, colleagues, the integrity of capital markets, investment analysis and recommendations and conflicts of interest. Both are used as point of reference in resolving ethical dilemmas and ethical conflicts by applying ethical theories. Problems A & B As a sales representative, I am faced with the ethical dilemma of whether I should close the deal with Fortune 500 company even if I know that the other 2,000 computers will be delayed in delivery and I will earn a sizeable profit by receiving a big commission from such sale and will definitely boost the compa ny’s stock option. As a mother of two children, my kids are entitled to receive support from me, the money that I will be earning will help our family to defray our daily expenses. On the other hand, I will be in violation of the Code of Ethics as I should â€Å"act with integrity, competence, diligence and respect to my clients. I am expected to put the interest of client above my own personal interests†(CFA Code of Ethics 2010). One of my duties to my clients is to be fair in all my dealings with them. In this case, if I pursue with the sale with personal knowledge that the other computer units will not be delivered on time, I am guilty of putting my personal interest above the interest of my client. The long term effect of this sale to Fortune 500 would mean that their company will incur losses because of the failure of delivery on the part of our company. Our company will stand to lose a valuable client if I choose to close the deal without informing them that we c annot deliver on time and blame the delay to the manufacturer of computers. The short term effect will be advantageous on my part as I will receive a lucrative commission and the company will also benefit from the sale by receiving a boost in the company’s stock price and help our executives who want to exercise stock options. In the end, my final decision will be to forego with the deal even if our company will stand to lose a reasonable amount of profit and also if I lose the chance to earn personal gain. The Standards of Professional Conduct requires that in cases of â€Å"conflict of interest, I should make full and fair disclosure of all matters that could reasonably be expected to impair my independence and objectivity or interfere with respective duties to my clie

Power of Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 Essay Example for Free

Power of Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 Essay In order to understand the concept of active directory first lets take a look at directory service. Directory Service is a service which stores information of using and managing different objects of network at a centralized point. Those objects include printing servers, file servers, printers; fax servers etc . The directory service stores all of the information regarding the resources and at the same time provides mechanism of easy access to the resources’ information for the users. Active directory is also a directory service in windows server 2003 which stores information about the netwrok resources and about the services that make this information available to the users. Now let’s look at the power and key features of active directory in windows server 2003:  ·Multiple selections of directory objects: We can change the common attributes of many users at the one time.  ·Drag-and-drop functionality: You just need to drag and drop the directory objects from one container to another in order to move them  ·Efficient search capabilities: The object oriented searching facility provides efficient search minimizing the traffic on the network.  ·Saved queries: The active directory queries can be saved, exported, reopened and refreshed, and the results of the attributed queries can also be exported.  ·Active Directory command-line tools: A number of command line tools are available to manage the active directory. Those tools are Ntdsutil, Dsget, Dsrm, Dsmod, Csvde, Dsadd, Dsquery, Dsmove and Ldifde.  · Domain functional levels :Active directory’s domain wide features in your network can be enable using domain functional levels.  ·Forest functional levels: The Active directory’s forest wide features in your network can also be now enabled using forest functional levels.  ·Secure All Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) traffic:   All Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) traffic is signed and encrypted by Active directory’s administrative tools, by default. It ensures that the data is not corrupted and that it is coming from the known source.  ·Active directory quota: With Active directory quota, the ownership of objects by a user, computer or group can be limited by assigning quotas.  ·New Group Policy settings: more than 200 group policy setting are included in windows server 2003‘s active directory.  ·New Resultant Set Of Policy (RSoP) Wizard is included which enables you to check the policies assigned to a specific user or computer.  ·Folder redirection is also made very easy.  ·Advanced options for software installation are available, which makes installation process easy and administration effective.  ·InetOrgPerson class has been added to enhance the security and it can be used in the same way as the user class is used.  ·Cross forest support is also provided.  ·The Software Restriction Policies that are included can identify unwanted or hostile soft wares and hence will not let them execute on the computer. But this requires that the system is either being run on Microsoft Windows XP Professional or on a family member of Windows Server 2003.  ·Domain controller renaming: The domain controllers, without demoting, can now be renamed with the active directory of windows server 2003.As well as the domain name can now also be renamed with this.  ·In the domain hierarchy, the domains can be moved from one location to another.  ·The two way transitivity can now be extended by creating forest trust.  ·The users’ access of one domain or forest can be allowed, disallowed or given selective access to another domain of forest.  ·Unnecessary objects of the schema can be deactivated  ·In order to link the auxiliary classes to the objects on dynamic bases, extra support is provided.  ·When the partial attribution set is extended , the resulted administrative actions take place; at that time the Tuning global catalog replication is available for preserving global catalog’s state of synchronization All in all the active directory of Windows server 2003 provides a lot of additional features which to facilitate the management, administration and usage of resources in the network. The security additions are also very remarkable and a lot of flexibility is given to the administrator to check and configure different parameters of the network. Other than this some work has also to improve the responsiveness of the network and to cater with the network traffic. Flexibility for moving objects and domains, and for renaming them is also made easy .And with the new policies introduced the access of a user from one domain of forest to another can also be a controlled effectively. Providing these all functionalities and flexibilities to the networks administrators and mangers make their tasks of access controls, security, managing of objects etc very easy. References Spealman, Jill, Hudson, Kurt (2004). Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure. Redmond ,Washington: Microsoft Press. Jones, Don (2003). Windows Server 2003 Weekend Crash course. NewYork: Wiley Publishing Inc..

Abortion Essay -- essays research papers

China - Two researchers say comprehensive new data shows that traditional family patterns in China, combined with tough population-control measures, have resulted in ``female infanticide on a grand scale'' -- close to 800,000 baby girls abandoned or killed in a single region between 1971-80 alone. G. William Skinner, an anthropologist and China specialist at the University of California-Davis, and Chinese researcher Yuan Jianhua based their conclusions on an analysis of 1990 Chinese census data. They presented their findings at the Association for Asian Studies' annual meeting last weekend in San Diego. While the phenomenon of disappearing girls isn't new, the paper by Yuan and Skinner is the first to show how location and family composition help determine infants' fate: The more rural a baby girl's surroundings, and the more sisters she had at birth, the higher her chances of not surviving. The researchers say most of the girls were abandoned or killed at birth. Chinese officials have long maintained that missing girls are adopted or raised on the sly, but Skinner said the data does not allow for concealment. Skinner and Yuan, who works for a semiofficial agency in Beijing that does population projections for the Chinese government, focused on a 1 percent census sample of China's lower Yangtze region. Located around the central metropolis of Shanghai, the area ranges from crowded coastal cities to surrounding rural communities, and had a population of 140 million in 199...

Concepts of Morality Essay

Define and compare the concepts of morality, law, and religion by explaining the source of each and whether one or all rely upon each other. Morality has to do with our ideas regarding what is right and what is wrong and how right and wrong behavior should be punished and rewarded. http://www. education. com/reference/article/moral-concepts-children/. As with the law and religion parts, they rely upon each other by the minds of many people. When religious leaders speak out on moral topics, their opinions are often treated with special deference. They are regarded as â€Å"moral experts. † This raises the question of: â€Å"Whether morality depends in some way on religion? † The answer to this question may be of considerable practical importance. If morality does depend on religion, the process of secularization, in the course of which religious belief and practice wither away, seems to pose a serious threat to morality. Most of the discussion in this entry will address the issue of whether moral requirements (obligations) and prohibitions (wrongness) depend on a deity of the sort to which the major monotheisms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are committed. Discussions of whether morality depends on religion frequently focus exclusively on the deontological domain. Deontology consists of a system of requirements, permissions, and prohibitions. It is structurally similar to systems of law. Hence it’s natural to think of deontology as the domain of moral law. The question arises as to whether moral law’s binding force depends on the authority of a divine lawgiver or religion belief expert. http://www. highbeam. com/doc/1G2-3446801737. html.

Unequal Democracy By Larry Bartle - 1503 Words

In â€Å"Unequal Democracy† written by Larry Bartle focuses on how politics have influenced the growing gap between the rich and poor in America. Bartle argues that the gap has resulted from policy choices dominated by partisan ideologies and interest of the wealthy, specifically under the Republican Party, while Democrats have managed to slightly decrease the gap. Bartle sheds light on how poor voters have a disadvantage in which wealthier voters are more affluent to political leaders. In addition, Bartle examines whether voting patterns of voters have contributed to the growing economic inequality, and he concludes voters do not weigh more into social and cultural issues; rather Republic presidents are good at timing income growth to garner voters. The political environment has essentially influenced economy, in result has led to a growing economic gap between the rich and poor, which is a national and state issue that must be addressed. Education is essential to attain so cial mobility, however students face difficult obstacles. Even though we have laws like No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), however many students that come from low social class families do not have equal opportunities as students that come from higher income households. NCLB is encouraging on its face, but it does not address the unequal distribution of funds for districts. NCLB set standards in which students must achieve scores on standardized test rather than having access to equal opportunities, in