Saturday, November 30, 2013

Additional Post Three: Spark of Love


As time has passed I have slowly begun to learn the importance of community service and giving back to people in need. For the month of November I was fortunate enough to help run the Spark of Love toy drive, which is run by the L.A. County Fire Department. This toy drive helps give Christmas presents to many orphaned children around California.

spark of love

I helped run this toy drive by giving up one of my days to help the organizers count some of the toys that had been donated. I probably spent about half my day counting and rearranging a total of 1 thousand toys, which is not much considering that in total this toy drive gets around 500,000 thousand donations.  Although the work was long and tiresome, mainly because all I did was move boxes and and count toys, in the end it was all worth it because I got to witness another side of the fire department that I really hadn't before. I'm referring to the "giving back" side of firefighting. I've learned that it's not always about your fire station and the people in it, but it's also about the people around you. This single event has changed the way I look at giving back to your community and helped me learn that if you really want to help make a difference you can. 

If you or anyone you know would like to make a donation to help make a small difference in a child's life, feel free to click on the link provided below. The smallest contributions can help make a big difference. Thank you. 



Thursday, November 21, 2013

Blog 9: EQ

1. "I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ."

2.a.  What is the most important factor in healthy weight loss?

This EQ doesn't meet the rule of 3 criteria. When I first read this EQ I though it was great but after further investigation I realized that it could use some improvement. Although the question does allow someone to research this topic in depth, they could be more specific in the wording. I don't quite understand what they mean by healthy weight loss because the word healthy can be interpreted by different people in their own way. I would improve that EQ by changing the wording a little and being more specific. 

 2.b.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

This EQ doesn't meet the rule of 3 criteria. I feel like the main problem with this EQ is that it is too broad, and it doesn't necessarily focus on one specific topic. The author of this EQ could have been more specific on what type of conviction they wanted to focus on, such as a federal or state crime. If I were to improve this EQ I would just add some more details on the type of conviction or crime. 

2.c.  What is most important in creating a hairstyle that best satisfies a customer?

This EQ doesn't meet the rule of 3 criteria. I believe that the question is a little broad, but if the word choice is improved it could be great for finding in depth research.  It could be more specific on the type of haircut. If not the type of hair cut, maybe the question could focus on and era of hair cuts, an example being how modern hair cuts differ from hair cuts in the 1970s. Also, the author should pin point their ideal customer, are they trying to create a haircut that satisfies a young customer or and older one?

2.d.  How can an Anesthesiologist best treat chronic pain? 

This EQ may meet the rule of 3 criteria. I believe that this EQ would allow for in depth research and would let someone argue a point. Aside from that, if the author wanted to be more specific when writing their EQ they could have mentioned a certain type of treatment or a certain area in the body that pain is occurring. I would tell the author to just improve their format and be a little more specific. 

3. What is the best way for firefighters to limit injuries and fatalities when fighting structural fires? 

The biggest change that I did to my EQ was deciding what type of fire to focus one. I choose to focus my EQ on the aspect of structural fires, rather than wild land fires because I find them more interesting.