How Dry Cleaning Works

Posted on March 29th, 2008

Dry cleaning is an amazing technology, but do you know what actually happens behind the counter? Find out how dry cleaning works in this HowStuffWorks Video.

Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using an organic solvent rather than water.

The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), abbreviated “perc” in the industry and “dry-cleaning fluid” by the public. Dry cleaning is necessary for cleaning items which would otherwise be damaged by water and soap or detergent. It may be used if hand washing— needed for some delicate fabrics — is excessively laborious.

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Plagiarism – Don’t do it!

Posted on March 14th, 2008

Plagiarism is theft of another’s words and ideas. It is unconscionable and unacceptable.

Plagiarism includes:

1) The direct quoting of another’s work without proper documentation. If you quote someone’s work, put quotation marks around it and cite it.

2) The paraphrasing of another’s work without proper documentation, even if you use your own writing style and vocabulary. If it’s someone else’s idea, then cite it as such. At the end of the sentence or paragraph, put the citation.

3) The slight rewording of a quote (this is what got historian Stephen Ambrose in trouble) is still plagiarism. Better to use the quote directly, putting it in quotation marks and citing it or rewrite it considerably and cite it.

What should you cite?

• Quotes. Always
• Authors’ arguments and ideas. Always
• Statistics. Statistics, particularly those that vary across sources, must be cited. (For example, cite where you get the Gross National Product of the United States).

What don’t you need to cite?

• Dates. Unless there is a discrepancy among authors, you do not need to cite dates something occurred (e.g., that Carter became President on January 20, 1977)
• Generally accepted figures. If there are figures that every author accepts or that are widely accepted estimates (e.g., that fifty million people died in WWII), you don’t need to cite it.
• Information that is common knowledge. This is admittedly vague. However, it can be information on which all authors on a given topic agree or it can even be knowledge that a well-informed person would have (the latter is more stringent and means that you’d cite more).

Rule of thumb: If you’re unsure whether or not to cite it, cite it! Better to over-cite than to under-cite.

— Reference: susqu.edu

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General Interview Questions

Posted on March 13th, 2008

Experience-based:

• What do you expect out of this job?
• Describe the best manager you ever had. What made him or her stand out? How did you interact with this manager? How did you react to feedback, instructions, and criticism he/she gave you?
• What are your three most important responsibilities in your current job? What special skills or knowledge did you need to perform these duties?

Communication:

• In your previous jobs, how important were communication and interaction with others?
• What experiences have you had with a miscommunication with a customer/employee/supervisor? What happened and how do you solve the problem?

Interpersonal skills:

• Give me a description of a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer (internal or external). How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?

Problem-solving:

• Tell me about an assignment that really challenged you. How was your approach different from that of others?
• Tell me about a project that really got you excited. (Can probe what happened to the project, how it turned out, what problems arose, how they were handled, and perhaps most important, whether the candidates’ obvious enthusiasm led to any oversights or miscalculations.)
• Have you ever had to make a difficult decision where no policy existed? Tell me what you did.
• Think of a day when you had many things to do and describe how you scheduled your time.

Leadership and personal development:

• Tell me about an important goal you set in the past and how you went about accomplishing it.
• What efforts have you made in the last year to become a better staff/faculty/administrator?
• Tell me about an occasion when your performance didn’t live up to your expectation. (Tough one to answer. Give the candidate points for poise and honesty; and be sure to see whether anything was learned from the situation).
• Tell me something specific you have done that has been creative in your current job.

Faculty/Research Specific:

• How do your professional interests/research agenda contribute to teaching a multicultural student body?
• What teaching strategies do you use in your classes? What are the intended outcomes of these strategies?
• How do you expect to interact with department faculty who are not in your specialty?
• Describe a positive experience that you had with a mentor, and how do you intend to apply that to your mentoring roles?
• What do you know about the goals of this department, and how do you fit into those goals?
• Describe a learning opportunity you had that increased your understanding and appreciation for workplace or educational diversity.

Reference: colorado.edu

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Social Networking Tips

Posted on March 13th, 2008

Networking: Networking is talking to the people you know, talking to the people they know and talking to the people you should know.

The main reason for Networking: to get known and trusted by someone who can help you access the information you need.

Develop a contact list:

• Take the initiative to identify individuals you would like to meet and call them
• Keep your options open and enjoy meeting people from a wide variety of different backgrounds
• As you generate your networking contacts, listen as well as share
• Follow your leads and be flexible to what doors may open
• Do not focus exclusively on hiring authorities (those that have the power to hire), target all levels of a particular field.

Be prepared to market yourself:

• Identify the types of work or information you are looking for
• To establish a personal career profile, identify your career-related interests, skill and values
• Have a prepared, up-to-date resume

Decide how to organize and keep track of your network:

• Create contact records on companies and individuals
• Maintain and update your contact records. Include notes on past conversations, important points etc. (see example of Networking Log on next page)
• Keep an organized collection of business cards
• Attempt to contact your contacts regularly (set goals and be disciplined about achieving them)

Reference: cariboo.bc.ca

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Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted on March 7th, 2008

A few keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word that might save you some time:

• Cntrl+T : Hanging indent (hit Cntrl+T again to increase the hanging indent; hit
• Cntrl+Shift+T to decrease/remove the hanging indent)
• Cntrl+= : Subscript (hit Cntrl += again to revert to the normal font)
• Cntrl+Shift+= : Superscript
• Cntrl+Shift+L : Start a bulleted list (this can also be accomplished by starting the sentence with an asterisk, assuming that this hasn’t been turned off using the AutoCorrect menu)



• Select an entire paragraph to change formatting or style: You don’t have to select the entire paragraph to change the paragraph’s formatting or style. Just click anywhere in the paragraph and choose the desired format or style. A good example is justification. Just click anywhere in the paragraph and then click the Align Left, Align Right, or Justify button on the Standard toolbar.
• Select a table – Select a table by holding down [Alt] and double-clicking anywhere in the table.

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How to Solve any Problem

Posted on February 8th, 2008

My Problem solving Approach

I consider every problem as a constrained optimization problem. We have to minimize or maximize
something satisfying all the constraints and come up with the best solution.

• First define the problem and constraints –the verify the definition with somebody
• Write down what you know – don’t know about the problem.
• Ask yourself – where can you get additional information – Try to be more specific.
• Has someone tried similar problem – what worked what did not.
• Do cause – effect analysis
• Do cost – benefit analysis
• Find approaches to solve problem. Do SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis for the best solution.
• Solution generation – alternative ways, Is it going to happen in future? Workarounds
• If you can’t solve problem within the defined time – discuss with someone and ask for help
• Verify – Did it work?

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