Big Words start conversations and open doors to new places.
Author: anwaryusef
Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath.
Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics.
Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money. Building and maintaining a strong credit rating can significantly affect one’s financial health and open certain doors and opportunities. The opposite is also true. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Your Credit Report Tells Your Life Story.
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Over 65% of job applicants admit to embellishing the truth on their resumés. LIttle white lies here and there and optimistic descriptions of their tasks can move your profile from being at the bottom of the list to the top on the recruiter’s desk. If there’s one thing that most adults spend a lot of time improving, it’s their professional profile. So it’s surprising that less than half of the population care about their credit score. Indeed, almost 30% don’t know their credit score and don’t really see how it can affect their everyday lives. The most common interaction with the credit score is to check whether or not you are eligible for a specific loan or credit card agreement. Consequently, it appears crucial to draw a parallel with your professional profile. Indeed, in the same way than your resume can influence your career; your credit score can equally affect your financial situation. More importantly, you can manage what your credit score reveals about you.
It’s a number, but it says a lot about finance management
The scale of the score for your credit report goes from 300 to 850 – although you can find specific credit card scoring systems that start at 250 and runs to 900. Ultimately, while it’s fair to say that a number might be meaningless at first, you need to understand what it means. Potential lenders and employers can ask to see your score and make an informed decision to trust you or not based on the data available. Ultimately, a score in the highest part of the scale, 781 to 850 implies you’re responsible with your money. While a score in the lowest range of the scale, 300 to 600 can put lenders and some employers off, as it shows you’re not managing your finances.
Mistakes remain visible for long
Unfortunately, lenders don’t only check your credit score, but your full report. The report is the equivalent of your financial resume. It shows all the major decisions you’ve made and can highlight some of your issues with debts or the law for several years. However, you can clear up your report gradually. If you’re worried about the time it takes to remove judgment from credit report information; you might need to get in touch with a legal expert to find out more. More judgment items are removed after 7 years from the date the lawsuit was filed, but there are exceptions. Additionally, some credit bureaus and creditors might choose not to report or mention all negative items.
People look at your finances, not your social privileges
Ultimately, there is an essential element that your credit score encourages. While a resume can suffer from stereotypes based on the education you’ve received or your race, a credit score is, as you know, only a number. The report might highlight your financial strategy and preferences, but more importantly, it showcases your priorities and the time you invest in finance management. Where discrimination is still present in the workplace, credit reports focuses on facts. Being only a number saves you from unfair preconceptions.
The bottom line, for many newcomers to the finance world, is that your credit report is not an enemy you should fight. It’s an opportunity for self-improvement – when the score is low – and for unbiased achievements. Your credit report might shut some doors but, in the grand scheme of things, it helps you to access opportunities that social, racial and gender discriminations would have made more difficult to reach.
One of focus of my blog is Current Events. Throughout the history of the United States, there have always been racial tensions and discrimination, sometimes resulting in “Hate Crimes”. Hate Crimes are concern even in 2018. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Political Correctedness Can’t Explain Increasing Hate Crimes Away.
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Hate crime is a word we’ve heard a lot in recent years. While it looked like racial discrimination was at an end with our first black president, things couldn’t have changed more since Trump took the helm. Now, we’re seeing new racial slurs and undeniable hate crimes on a daily basis. It’s shocking, and many would argue that it’s a step backwards.
Of course, the news on this issue can be a little misleading. For one, it’s worth noting that crimes like these started a steady increase while Obama was in the White House. That amount has risen much faster under Trump, but this is by no means a new issue. The only real difference is that many of us are now becoming aware of the problem.
It’s also worth noting that hate crime still accounts for a relatively small portion of crimes across the country. In California, for instance, last year saw a total of 1,093. That may not seem like such a bad number until you consider that’s up 44% since 2014. Figures from across the country paint a similar picture in every major city.
Reasons for this rise seem to vary. A change in general outlook has contributed to more obviously hate-based crimes. Equally, an increase in minority groups seems to have played its part in these outbursts. Whatever the reason, though, this is not, as some believe, a case of ‘political correctness gone mad.’
This is a statement we often hear, and it’s a worrying one. While there are those out there who want to address issues like these accordingly, others are more willing to turn a blind eye. In a way that’s understanding. The thought such violent crimes could be perpetrated from racial differences alone is shocking. But, denying the severity of crimes like these is a harmful approach.
To prove that this increase is nothing to do with sensitive political correctness, consider the definition of a hate crime. According to USA Today, ‘Hate crimes are considered criminal acts motivated by prejudice based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.’ As you can see, definitions like these don’t leave much room for doubt.
Consider, too, that evidence needed to gain a conviction here also leaves little wiggle room. A defense attorney for someone facing charges here will fight against any judge who cannot prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that discrimination was behind a crime. If you want to know more about that, you can read about it here or do your own research on the subject. Either way, anyone would have a hard time arguing the increase here is just political correctness with that in mind.
As tempting as it is to deny the severity of cases like these, doing so contributes to the issue. Instead, we should be working to raise awareness of this growing problem, and ensuring those responsible gain the punishment they deserve. How else can we ensure that every U.S. citizen feels safe on these streets once more?
“It’s my job to prepare you for wherever you go after you leave my lab. When you go into a company, no one is going to tell you if your presentations and writings are sloppy. You won’t get promoted and you’ll never know why!”
In my post entitled, Who will benefit from Apple’s $350 billion investment?, I cited data stating that less than 10% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degree holders are African American – a staggering number as these are some of the highest paying careers today. With the first principle of my blog being “Creating Ecosystems of Success”, and one of my focuses being awareness of the STEM careers, I wanted to tell my story.
Thus far I’ve published posts discussing the ‘Biomedical’ sciences I’ve been trained in, ‘Regulatory’ science, the ‘Applied’ sciences, and the ‘Transferrable’ skills learned when earning STEM degrees. In these posts I’ve attempted to make these sciences easily understandable for students and families with backgrounds like my own (see the story of my blog). Potentially the most important story of all though is how one becomes a STEM professional.
I’m a firm believer in teaching the ‘how’. It’s important to encourage participation in the STEMs, but as a student who walked into my training not fully understanding the opportunity in front of me, I think it’s also important to share what went into earning my STEM degree in a very open and honest way – the good, the bad and the ugly – no fairy tales and no magic. In this post, I’m thus revisiting both my learning points science-wise, and some personal challenges during the process as an African American male coming from Buffalo’s east side. The latter challenges may surprise you.
The majority of the visuals used in this piece are materials from my thesis. Click on any of them to enlarge them. Lastly in this piece I refer to my thesis project without getting into its specifics. I describe it in greater detail in my Basic Sciences and Basic Research post.
Learning how to do Science
I fell in love with “Life Science” in the seventh grade at Campus West in Buffalo, NY. I followed that love into Hutch-Tech High School where I majored in ‘Biotechnology’ (AP Biology). At Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), I distinguished myself as a ‘A’ student in my core courses as a Biology major which led to my participation in the Ronald E. McNair Program, where I worked two summers in a Hepatic (Liver) Physiology lab.
It was my first time performing ‘Basic’ scientific research (see my Basic Sciences and Research post). I earned an undergraduate fellowship from the Environmental Protection Agency my last two years at JCSU. This precluded my participation in the ‘Minority Access to Research Careers’ (MARC) Program where I would’ve worked on a research project year-round, and would’ve gained more valuable experience.
Having participated in the McNair Program, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, thinking that working in a Pharmaceutical company like Pfizer or Merck would provide stable employment. Thus, the sole focus for my science training was finding a job. While a Ph.D. in Pharmacology would help me get there, I didn’t completely understand what the road to a Ph.D. in this particular STEM field entailed, as I didn’t yet know how to do science fulltime.
Rigorous Scientific Research
“Anwar has never done rigorous scientific research before,” my Graduate Advisor, a fellow Western New Yorker, wrote in my evaluation for my second lab rotation within the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Michigan. He gave me an ‘A’ which I was happy about, though based upon his statement, I wasn’t sure how I’d done in the lab. Did I perform adequately over those four months? Did I underperform, but still received an ‘A’ just because? Either way, he allowed me work under him for my thesis project – perhaps seeing some potential in me.
What made me want to stay in his lab? After my summers in the McNair Program, I knew something about the enzyme my Graduate Advisor’s lab worked on; “Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase” (see my Basic Sciences and Research post). I was also encouraged by two more senior students in another lab to stay based upon my advisor’s: talent, his productive track record and the productivity of his students.
By the way, in the coming years when prospective students would visit our department, my Graduate Advisor was always very adamant about the prospects getting the current students’ perspectives on the department. I think his reasons were that doctoral research is a significant life and time commitment as you’ll see later, and it’s in a student’s best interest not to walk into a department ‘blind’. Ideally, they should have a feel for the overall climate of their prospective department; its culture, its faculty and whether its students go on to establish their own careers.
The Basic Sciences and Research
The Basic Sciences and Basic Research are worlds all in themselves, worlds I initially didn’t know how to succeed in. Aside from some of my teachers in high school, there were no STEM professionals in my ecosystem in Buffalo. Also, once again, while my summers in the McNair Program gave me a taste of this new adventure I was embarking upon, they didn’t show what the experience would be like fulltime.
What qualities and attributes were needed to earn my Ph.D. in the STEM field I had chosen? One very important quality/value I received from my home ecosystem was that of hard work and the importance of doing quality work. I’ll credit my mother for this and her many years of making us do chores at home, which instilled a sense of personal responsibility and pride in my work. Also, the adversity-filled experience on my high school basketball team taught me how not to quit on things when they got hard – another valuable tool. Lastly, I was always naturally very malleable personality-wise, and open to being taught.
My Dad’s words about excelling in my coursework helped me to get into Graduate School and were useful until the end of my coursework. Once the fulltime research phase began however, it was a whole different ballgame, as working for my Graduate Advisor required a host of other ‘tools’.
I myself was a ‘project’ going into my Graduate Advisor’s lab – one which needed to be built from the ground up. There were plenty of challenging times for both of us as my first two to three years were spent literally just figuring things out. Fortunately, he was willing to teach me as long as I was willing to do the work and be taught. What do I mean by figuring things out? The following is a summary of what I learned as I worked on my thesis project:
Learning to ask Questions, to be Inquisitive and to Talk about Science
I added this learning point in last, but it may be the most important of all. I’ll credit the whole department for teaching me this lesson. One classmate and one professor stand out here. Verbally asking questions is essential to doing science. In my Basic Sciences and Basic Research post, I described how our experiments were questions themselves, but it’s also very important to be able to verbally ask questions of peers about their science both one on one, and in group settings in a respectful way.
During graduate school, I sat in on numerous seminars, and I was initially afraid to ask questions in front of everyone else. Part of it was a fear of sounding foolish. The other part of it was that while I’d excelled in my coursework as an undergraduate, I didn’t regularly talk about science with my classmates at my undergraduate institution. Over time I overcame my fears and got to the point where getting my questions answered superseded everything else.
Seeing and Understanding the Science through my Advisor’s Eyes
“You’re going to have to drive the project!” My biggest learning point was learning to see the science through my Graduate Advisor’s eyes, and not just in terms of obtaining my Ph.D. and finding a job. There was an ‘art’ to science, a thought process, a methodology, a culture and a lifestyle. It took about five years of training to get to the point where I could start see the science the way he saw it, and even talk about my project the way he talked about it.
I needed to understand the science in its entirety and appreciate the process, and all the challenges involved. I needed to approach my research like a professional; to design my experiments systematically and proactively – to think about the limitations of our experiments and the data we generated, to think of the next steps, and to always think about the final published paper.
Doing Science in the Lab Everyday vs. Learning about it in the Classroom
There’s a major difference between learning about science in a classroom setting, and actually doing quality science fulltime. For me that involved being proactive about my work, and being consistent in everything I did experimentally, in my writings and my presentations. Our experiments were questions, the results were the answers, and we needed the answers in a timely fashion. Everything needed to be approached with a sense of urgency, and in a way, time was our enemy. It also involved thinking about the project when outside of the lab – something my Advisor and his peers and competitors did – sometimes at the expense of other things.
I was now out on the edges of science in the ‘trenches’, trying to discover new knowledge. A major part of this involved approaching my thesis project like a job. And in many ways it was, as my peers and I received stipends. It wasn’t a high-paying job in terms of salary, but instead the payment was knowledge and wisdom which would equate to greater financial compensation later.
Graduate Research is in part a Job or an Apprenticeships line one of the Skill Trades
“This is your job now!” My Graduate Advisor and I had this conversation after my completing two years of coursework and starting my thesis project fulltime. I hadn’t made the connection yet that my research involved being in the lab 100% of the time. It required being on time in a job-like setting where I’d work on my project daily at a work bench – sometimes at night and on weekends. The data generated from my project would be published in scientific journals, as well as when my Graduate Advisor sought to renew his own research grants. Finally, it would be the basis for my completed dissertation, in addition to a record of my productivity after eventually leaving his lab.
Learning to Multitask
I had to learn to work smart, and not just hard. My Graduate Advisor instilled in me the ability to multitask and to, “have multiple things going at once,” as he always emphasized. In addition to working on my own project, I was also responsible for growing the stocks of proteins that the entire lab used, which was a huge responsibility. I was also the lab’s “Chemical Safety” officer who was responsible for all the lab’s waste disposal – chemical and radioactive. Multitasking was what he did on a grander scale all year. As a student, it seemed unfair at the time, but it’s a skill that has transcended our lab into other arenas, as with everything he taught us.
Learning to Compete and the Culture of Science
“You have to know where the line is, and then do your best to stay above it,” my Graduate Advisor told me years later after I graduated. Though I didn’t understand it at the time, he was teaching his students how to compete and survive. It’s not widely discussed, but science is about competition, especially in academia where at any given time, multiple labs around the country, and even around the world, are working to make the same scientific breakthrough. It’s an arena where ultimately, the group who makes the finding first gets the fame and notoriety, and future grant funding.
There was such a thing as being ‘scooped’. This is when another lab made the finding first, leaving its competitors to either disprove it, to add something to it, or to work on something else altogether. Because my Advisor was so talented and hungry, it never happened to us, but I saw it happen to some of my peers and their labs. Nothing was guaranteed. Just like he had to fight and claw to keep his lab running, I also had to fight and claw to push my project through to completion. I further had to fight and claw to stay in the department and finish my degree. Science and life are about competition.
“I know that I drove you guys pretty hard,” my Advisor shared with me years after I graduated, which we both smiled about. At times he was very abrasive, aggressive and very demanding of us. It was for a reason though and I realized during my training that working for brilliant and driven people is hard, but if you can stay in the process and take their coaching, you’ll be better off for it later.
Driven by Their Research
My Graduate Advisor attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an undergraduate, the University of Michigan for graduate school, and then the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his own postdoctoral training before becoming a professor at the University of Michigan. We never talked about MIT in my ecosystem in Buffalo, and I just started understanding my Advisor’s pedigree towards the end of my training. His father was a scientist as well, and he thus had exposure to science at an early age, and even earned a couple of patents before starting college. Don’t get me wrong, having parents in the STEMs isn’t a necessity to getting into one of the fields yourself, but the early exposure can pay huge dividends later.
This is a good place to state that my Graduate Advisor, his peers, and scientists at most research universities are driven by their scientific research, and they’re always thinking about it; late at night, and even on family vacations. The argument can be made that their research is their purpose for living. The truly talented ones are further tough enough to withstand any environmental changes such as when the second Bush Administration cut the NIH’s budget, causing many labs around the country to downsize or perish altogether, while others figured out how to survive.
“You all are very different than we were! When I was a graduate student, we fought over the latest issues of theJournal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (JPET),” said one of the more senior and celebrated faculty in our department who was jokingly said to have invented the Heart. He felt that we weren’t studying up on our field enough in our spare time beyond our core curricula. Most of us were only doing the minimum reading and studying, something my Graduate Advisor also stayed on me about during my training.
Learning to Manage my Life outside of the Lab so that I could do Science
Learning to manage my life outside of the lab so I could do science
The accompanying newspaper clipping is from one of Buffalo’s local weekly black publications, The Challenger. My mother proudly submitted the story and that’s her handwriting on the top of the clipping. It was a big deal back home and she even shared with me that I’d exceeded her expectations which was very gratifying. When looking at the clipping, it’s something to proud of, but what you don’t see there is that there were a host of personal learning points outside of the lab as well – experiences which could’ve derailed the whole thing.
Being African American and ascending in education and a career often leads to discussions of “forgetting where you came from”. So, I want to close with what I learned about how life outside of the lab can affect one’s ability to do science and be a professional. Sometimes it’s actually necessary to leave certain parts of your old life behind. I learned on numerous occasions during my STEM training that I had to protect both my project and my life. That is, I had to make strategic decisions in my personal life that would increase my chances of finishing my degree and surviving to talk about it.
While working on my thesis I got involved in a very chaotic romantic relationship which compromised my mind, spirit and overall well-being at times; nearly derailing my project and potentially adversely affecting my Graduate Advisor’s entire lab all at the same time. There was one day I consider a near death experience – something I’ve discussed with friends and relatives only in bits and pieces. Fortunately, I survived, but this type of thing wasn’t restricted to my significant other.
There were two instances involving two close friends whom I consider my second and third brothers. One incident transpired over a Thanksgiving holiday and the other a Christmas holiday – both of which involved nearly getting pulled into violent confrontations late at night at nightclubs and parties in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. One friend had too much to drink and in the process of having his own fun, inadvertently splashed another guy with his beer. The guy who got splashed was unhappy about it and started following us around the venue. While I thought bullets might fly, my friend got away with just getting punched and knocked out temporarily. Fortunately, we both made it home safely.
In the second incident, another buddy wanted to stay and confront some guys over a female outside of a nightclub. Apparently, he was looking at the guy’s lady and there was an initial confrontation I didn’t see inside the venue. My friend didn’t want to appear afraid and wanted us to take our time leaving. When I realized what was going on, I wanted to leave immediately – something he and I clashed over afterwards. Fortunately again, nothing happened, and we got out of there safely.
Neither of these incidents were worth the potential price to be paid. Neither my significant other, or either of my friends considered the possibility of my showing up to the lab in a cast, with a black eye, or with teeth missing, or maybe being laid up in a hospital, unable to continue my research. The take home message from all of this is that you must be your own best advocate in life. None of us can avoid tragedies, but there are some things we can avoid.
You must protect what you’re doing, sometimes from people around you in your family circle, friends or significant others, because someone else’s selfishness and bad decisions can hinder your life and professional aspirations. In my case it was earning my STEM degree and starting my career.
Closing Thoughts
“Give a man fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
I included this famous quote from the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu because the road to my STEM degree was literally like learning how to fish. The opening quote from this piece is from one of my many talks with my Graduate Advisor. In some ways our relationship evolved into that of a father and a son which I’m very, very grateful for as not every student had this. I saw several peers leave partway through their graduate training without their doctorates either due to a loss of hope, or irreconcilable differences with their advisors. Some were African American, but not all were.
This is my STEM story and there are many others out there. I want to point out that the point of telling this story was not for my glorification. As I said in the opening, I think it’s critical to explain all sides of the process in addition to simply encouraging students to get involved in the STEMs solely because of our under-representation as African Americans, and because of the monetary benefit. The how is very, very important. If you’re a STEM professional, I encourage you to also tell your story to STEM-hopefuls in an age-appropriate way.
I’d like to end this story by acknowledging the late Dr. Minor J. Coon. Dr. Coon was not only a member of my Thesis Committee (on the program above), but he was also a legend and a pioneer the in the study of Phase I Drug Metabolizing Enzymes – Cytochrome P450s particularly. Dr. Coon actually trained my Graduate Advisor who subsequently suggested asking Dr. Coon to be on my committee – something that surprised me as we all looked upon him with great reverence. Growing up on Buffalo’s east side, I never dreamt of being a part of such a well accomplished tree of scientists.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy:
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at [email protected] . Best Regards.
Two of the principles of my blog are Creating Ecosystems of Success and Long-Term Thought. When starting a nonprofit organization, there are certain key steps and considerations to be mindful of. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Running a Successful Non-Profit Organization.
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If you are someone that loves to champion the things and causes that you are passionate about, then founding a nonprofit organization can be a great way to help and contribute. In order for it to do well, though, you need to make sure that it is adhering to a few guidelines, as well as running efficiently so that the goals that you have for it can be achieved. Here are some steps to help you to make that all happen; is there anything else that you would add to the list?
If you haven’t got a clear vision as a nonprofit, then you won’t have a clear focus of what you are trying to achieve. So before you start out, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to do. From there you can make plans and then work the plan that you have set. It can simply be a to-do style list of all that you want to achieve, and then you can have a focus and make plans of what you will do and when, as well as the measures so that you can check how things are going.
Work Backwards
Along similar lines, it is a really good idea if you can work backwards from what you are trying to achieve. If you set your goal, then you might struggle to know where to start with it. So instead, work backwards from the goal to see what steps you need to get there. In simple terms, it helps you to make sure that you get there, rather than having to start over and over.
Tech and Programs Can Help
While your nonprofit is going to reinvest the money that it generates, you can also put some of that back into what you are doing, so that it is made easier and easier. There is so much tech out there that could help to streamline processes, as well as help you to achieve your goals. There are systems and solutions in place like eBECS that can be used to benefit your nonprofit too. They can help to improve membership management, give easier access to data, and automate processes so that expenses can be reduced.
Be a Leader
Being a leader of a team can be a skill that is hard to learn, as it is more than just being in charge. You need to make sure that you are delegating your time evenly, as well as doing the jobs that will best highlight or showcase your skills. When you’re the one in charge it can be tempting to just take on the tasks that you enjoy or are more fun. But as a leader, you need to make sure that you are taking on a variety of tasks, as well as sharing the vision of the organization with your team.
No matter how many hours you are working, work should be an enjoyable place to be. Smile, work hard, and have fun as you see your dreams and goals being achieved.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Athletics and Sports, and Health and Wellness. While the martial arts are competitive sports, they also help personal wellness, both physically and mentally. In some instances, it’s very valuable to know how to handle oneself in the streets should danger arise. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Mean Streets: Protecting Yourself While Out & About.
While it isn’t exactly fair, a lot of people don’t feel safe when they are walking around in their home cities and neighborhoods. With violent crime on the rise in a lot of places, along with populations getting much greater, it makes sense that you might want to figure out some ways to keep yourself protected. Of course, though, handling this sort of process correctly can be incredibly hard. To help you out, this post will be exploring some of the best ways to protect yourself on the mean streets, while also making sure that you don’t break the law in the process.
Self-Defense: A lot of people think that carrying a weapon is the best way to keep on top of their need for self-defense. In reality, though, most weapons which can be effective are illegal to carry around without cause, and they can easily be turned against you if you make a mistake while using them. To overcome this issue, learning how to protect yourself by using your body can be a great route to take. Martial arts are great for this, as they will give you the chance to learn how to fight properly, while also keeping your fit and avoiding any risk of hurting someone too much. Options like Judo are perfect when you’re first starting out.
Situational Awareness: Being aware of what is going on around you is another good idea when you’re trying to protect yourself. A lot of people ignore the things around them, choosing to remain oblivious to the risks around them. This goes much further than gangs of youths and other scary people, though, with things like cars posing a big threat, too. Thankfully, to help with this, there are loads of courses out there which can be taken to help you to become more aware of your surroundings. A big part of self-defense is avoiding a fight in the first place.
Legal Support: Finally, as the last area to consider, it’s time to think about what you need to do if you ever find your protection failing, and need to take action against someone who has hurt you. Criminal justice, personal injury, and pedestrian accident attorneys can be found all over the world. Professionals like this will be able to fight on your behalf if you ever find yourself in need of legal support. To find the best options in your area, it will be worth reading some reviews, as different lawyers will have different levels of success in the areas which they work.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into protecting yourself in the modern world. It’s a shame that people have to take this sort of action to feel safe, but this doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth doing. In time, places slowly get more and more peaceful, especially when political discord settles down. This means that it may only be a matter of years until you are able to confidently go about your business without these precautions in place.
Two key focuses of my blog are Business and Entrepreneurship, and Technology. A critical aspect to successfully running a business today is choosing the right software for your purposes. The following contributed post is thus entitled; This Is How To Choose Business Software.
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Getting the right software for your business can change your operations completely. You could be more productive and efficient when you have the best tools for your business. Unfortunately, finding the apps that work for you isn’t as easy as you might like it to be. There are lots of things to consider, from the features that the software offers to how much you’ll be paying. You need to think about what you need new software for, and how it’s going to benefit your business. It can be a long process, but it’s best not to rush it if you want to make the best decision.
Identify Your Needs
Before you can find the right apps for your business, you need to identify your requirements. What do you want the software to help you with? You might have a specific need, like a tool to help with accounting. However, you could have a more open goal, such as improving productivity for your company. It’s best if you can be as specific as possible by identifying the problems that you want to solve. This will help you to search for the best software to meet your needs. You can compare software types and features against your requirements.
Once you know what your needs are, you can start researching a few different solutions. You won’t necessarily be looking at specific tools just yet. You just need to see what sort of apps are available to meet your needs. For example, if you need something to make invoices more manageable, you might be looking at accounting tools, document management software or perhaps productivity tools. You can find a few different options that could potentially help you with your issue. Start looking at prices too so that you can get an idea of how much you might need to spend.
Create a Software Budget
Once you’ve started looking at possible options and prices, you should create a budget for how much you want to spend. Many apps are now subscription-based, which can help you to save money compared to more traditional software options. You can find you’ll pay a monthly amount based on features and the number of users who will using the app. While you can find cheaper options, make sure you’re not trying too hard to save money. It’s worth investing a bit more in the apps you choose to make sure you get the features that you need.
Choose Software for Your Industry
It’s a good idea to see if there are any software options that are tailored to your industry. If there are, they’re likely to have plenty of features specific to your needs. Some industries in particular can benefit from this, like the hospitality industry. Using custom hotel software will allow you to manage bookings, maintenance and many other things involved in running a hotel. Ecommerce software can help you to manage your sales and orders, as well as your warehouse or inventory. These apps can help you meet a huge number of needs that your business might have, all in one package.
Find Apps You Can Customize
Even though you can find lots of tools that meet your needs, you can make them even better if you’re able to customize them. Plenty of software solutions can be customized, and it doesn’t have to be too expensive. You can work with someone who will help to develop an app just for you so that it meets all of your needs. It also helps you make sure that you’re not wasting money on features that you don’t need and won’t use.
Look for Apps You Can Integrate
If you already have some useful tools that you don’t want to stop using or you’re looking for some a selection of different tools, make sure you can integrate the new apps that you choose. Integration will allow you to connect all of your favorite apps so they can work together. For example, you might have an inventory management tool that works together with your accounting software. Many software providers have an API that make it easy to connect different tools so you can continue to use existing ones that work for you.
When you introduce new tools to your business, you need to make sure that the people who will be using them are happy with your choice. You should talk to your employees to get their opinion and find out what their needs are. What are the problems that they most want to be solved? What frustrations do they come up against when using software? You should think about what training might be available too. Are there existing training programs or perhaps even trainers provided by the software service?
Start with a Shortlist
Now that you’re a bit more familiar with your options and what you need, you can start making a shortlist of potential tools to use. Make a note of some of the possibilities that you’re considering and how they could help you, as well as how much they cost. You should have a good idea of what sort of tools you’re looking for, and what problems they’ll be solving. Try to keep your shortlist to a maximum of five options so you don’t have to compare too many.
Evaluate Available Features
With your shortlist at hand, you can start comparing the available features to see which tools are going to meet your needs. In addition to looking at which functions you have, you might want to look at things such as customer service and support, as well as the price. If you choose a SaaS (software as a service) solution, you can get everything that you need in one package, including the help and support you require. Don’t forget to check testimonials and reviews too, so you can see what other people have thought of the tools and service.
There’s lots to consider to get the right software for your business. Choose carefully if you want to use your time and money wisely.
Two key focuses of my blog is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Business and Entrepreneurship. Many businesses and organizations are moving towards cloud-based storage systems for increased efficiency of operations, but what are the issues with this new technology? The following contributed post is thus entitled; Exploring The Key Issues With “The Cloud”.
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Over the last few years, a lot of companies have been touting their cloud data services. Offering the chance to have all of your work, emails, and other important information stored on servers across the world, these businesses promise to be able to make it much easier to access and use these important parts of your work. Of course, though, like any new technology, the cloud isn’t all fun and games, and there are some serious issues with some of the services which can be found out there. To help you to see these problems, this post will be exploring some of the most prominent.
Getting There: Data migrations are a notoriously challenging part of enterprise computing. Moving all of your on-premises information to servers isn’t an easy process, and most people will need the help of a cloud migration solutions company to help them. While this makes it much easier to get information where it needs to go, it will also cost some money, and this is rarely factored into the quotes which will be given out when you are approached by a cloud service.
Downtime: While a lot of work has been done to make sure that the servers hosting your data are able to run all the time, with plenty of redundant power and storage space, along with multiple networks in case one fails, a cloud company can’t control your internet connection. If you find yourself without this for a day or two, you could be left completely unable to do your work. These issues often come by surprise, making it impossible to save the data you’ll need as a precaution.
Security: Along with keeping servers running all the time, most cloud companies invest a small fortune into their cyber security. You will probably be accessing your data wirelessly at some stage, though, and this puts everything at risk. Of course, data breaches have become commonplace in the modern world, too. If this were your business’s information, you could be left to deal with some very unhappy clients or customers as a result.
Training: Finally, as the last area to consider, not a lot of people feel confident to use systems like this. When you have everything online, the process of accessing data can be a lot more complicated than what users are experienced with. This means having to train any employees you have to make sure that they can use the cloud securely and without wasting any time. There are loads of companies out there which can provide this to you, but it is something a lot of businesses would rather not have to pay for.
With all of this in mind, you should have the chance to think a little more deeply about the choice you have to make when it comes from moving from your own servers to the cloud. Of course, it isn’t all bad, the benefits it can provide can be huge, but it might not quite be the right time to make the switch if you’re worried about it.
Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) . Cryptocurrencies are a new technology that are impacting global markets in terms of conducting business transactions and serving as investments themselves. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Invest In Crypto The Right Way.
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If you are keen to make whatever money you can in whatever way you can, you’re probably thinking about cryptocurrency at least some of the time. This relatively new kind of currency is all the rage at the moment, and as such it has been developing something of a spike in many of its markets as well. The truth is that if you want to get in crypto trading, now is a good time to start – or at least a better time than next week or next year. But you need to know what you are doing first to make sure that you are actually going to get it right, and that is what we are going to look at today. Here are some of the things you should consider if you are to invest in cryptos in the right way.
First of all, you will want to think about getting hold of a wallet which you can store your crypto coin in. A lot of newcomers find this part of the process particularly bewildering, but the truth is that it is not that hard to wrap your head around once you get going with it. There are a few different kinds of wallets, but the most secure ones are those which allow you to use two-factor authentication to gain access to them. By utilising and making the most of this kind of security, you can be sure that your wallet is going to be perfectly safe, which will help if you have any anxiety about getting started with the crypto world. Then it’s just a matter of choosing a wallet that seems good for you personally. It’s a good idea to go for one that gains you interest for BTC, so that you can make even more of your coin.
Buy Your Coin
Then you will need to go out and buy the coin that you want to buy. There are now several ways to do this. The best and safest is to go and find a crypto ATM, which are now cropping up in many major cities around the globe. With these machines, you merely purchase crypto with cash or card as you would anything else, and have the coin deposited into your wallet straight away – owing to the usual checks. Or you can consider using an online exchange which set you up with someone who you buy from via bank transfer. In either case, you can be sure that these are two of the safest ways to get hold of your crypto coin.
In order to really make the most of your crypto, you need to make sure that you are trading it in the right way. The easiest way to do this is to use an approved app which does the actual trading for you, as this way you can be sure that you are going to be able to get it right. Or you can do the research, and make those decisions yourself – which can be less safe, but is much more satisfying when you get it right.
“It doesn’t matter what sport it is. It doesn’t matter what realm of life it is, if I approach it with same approach I used on the court at LaSalle, I’m going to win. Period.”
This is part two of my interview with legendary LaSalle Senior High School point guard Tim Winn. The interview was a part of the research for my two-part book project entitled, The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. In part one, we discussed his background, how he started playing basketball and how he became a LaSalle Explorer. In part two, we talk more about playing in the LaSalle basketball program, where Tim played college basketball, the closing of LaSalle Senior High School, and finally, how basketball has changed.
The pictures in this interview come from an archive of Western New York basketball assembled over the years from issues of the Buffalo News, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and Sections V and VI playoff programs by my first Coach at Hutch-Tech High School, Dr. Ken Jones. Other pictures were generously shared by Tim himself, and his Head Coach at LaSalle Senior High School, Pat Monti. Click on any of the images to enlarge them. Links follow up video interviews with Tim, Modie Cox and other LaSalle coaches and players are at the end of this interview.
Anwar Dunbar: So, with your team having its eyes on Glens Falls the entire time, it sounds like even though you were getting everyone’s best shot every night, you weren’t very concerned with any of the other Section VI teams.
Tim Winn: Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of tough teams in Western New York, but there wasn’t one game there that was going to take us up too high, or take us down too low no matter what the results were, because our goal every year was Glens Falls. It’s like the Cleveland Cavaliers right now. Yes, Boston is tough, but for the Cavs it’s championship or bust. Once you get to Glens Falls a couple of times, you’re not accepting anything else. No matter what the ups and downs are during the year, your eyes are still on that prize, and it’s all that really matters to you.
AD: Were there any games in Section VI that you had circled? Niagara Falls High School, for example. That was a ‘rivalry’ game wasn’t it?
TW: It was a rivalry game. It was great for the community. You can compare it to St. Joe’s, Canisius. For us it was a great game. It brought the community together. You might be playing some of the most intense basketball against one of your cousins. You had family at both schools and everyone came out.
It was probably one of the best traditions our city doesn’t have anymore. We looked forward to playing against St. Joe’s. Obviously Buffalo Traditional, the team played them my senior year, but I didn’t because I sprained my ankle working on my jump shot in an open gym. Everyone in the world was waiting to see that game.
AD: So, Tim, what was your game? Were you a penetrator? Could you eventually do everything offensively?
TW: By my senior year, I could do everything. My staple though was defense. I would lock anybody up – that’s just how I felt. I was 5’9” and 165 pounds, but my heart was as big as Isaiah Thomas’. Coach Monti put me on anybody and it didn’t matter their size – I was locking them down. That was my greatest skill set by far, and it was probably the most aggressive part of my game for my entire career. I didn’t develop what I would call a ‘well-rounded’ offensive game until my senior year in high school, and that’s with me averaging 23 points a game as a junior. At that point I could get to the basket and I could shoot; whatever the game presented to me.
AD: What kind of student were you while you were playing for LaSalle?
TW: At LaSalle you didn’t have any choice but to be a good student. I talked about not being able to play if you didn’t defend, but also if you didn’t go to class you couldn’t play. Coach Monti had a program that really set you up for life and for me that was a really big deal. From the start I was wondering what I would have to do to get into college. From the start it was like, ‘You’re going to take this level of classes, we’re going to have progress reports every five weeks for everybody, and if you don’t perform academically, you can forget about it.’
It didn’t matter who you were, you were held to these standards and there was no favoritism. You were going to walk a certain way, and you were going to carry yourself a certain way in the classroom. School was going to be more important than any state championship, and if not, then it may not have been the program for you.
AD: So Coach Monti was actively monitoring your grades then?
TW: Everything. He monitored how many steps you took down one hallway. It was the best thing that ever happened to me – to have someone care about your development that much as a young man. It wasn’t just about basketball – he treated all of his players like family – like his sons.
AD: Was there a particular quote he used to tell the team regularly?
TW: No, there wasn’t necessarily a quote as much as it was a philosophy. You just knew when you were dealing with him, you had no choice but to walk the straight and narrow. There is a lot of structure that young men need that a lot of them don’t get these days. You knew that if you weren’t handling your business in the classroom, you had a problem on your hands and you did not want to make it to his classroom. That type of program for me and my teammates was everything. You still hear guys talking about it right now, ‘If Coach Monti was here, if Coach Monti was in the Falls,’ just because of what it did for us.
AD: When did the colleges start recruiting you?
TW: I think I started getting recruited in my sophomore year. During my sophomore year all the local schools started recruiting me. The summer after my sophomore year, after we made it back to Glens Falls, it picked up because I went to a couple of camps where I did pretty well. I’d say beginning to mid-sophomore year and onward.
AD: Which schools came calling?
TW: I turned down Syracuse and Georgia Tech. Amongst my circle, we still talk about it all the time. I was ‘signed, sealed and delivered to Syracuse,’ but the young and naïve me not having anyone else in my family who went through the experience, I pulled out of it at the last minute. I remember being at the State Fair in Syracuse and I was supposed to go verbally commit. My friend, Romell Lloyd, went the next year and Malik Campbell (Turner/Carroll, pictured below in the All-Western New York photos) was at the Fair at the same time. We were all supposed to go, but I pulled out at the last minute.
AD: Why didn’t you go?
TW: It was a last-minute change of heart. Rob Lanier had watched some of my games at the ABCD Camp and I told him that I was still open, and then St. Bonaventure started recruiting me.
TW: I didn’t and that was the young me. I didn’t tell anybody about it. He’s from Syracuse and I know for a fact he wouldn’t have let me pull out of going to Syracuse. It’s one of those things. I don’t have regrets now, but as an older man, sometimes I think about it.
AD: So you went to St. Bonaventure. I remember seeing you on TV. What was it like playing at St. Bonaventure?
TW: Anytime you go to college and away from home, there’s going to be an adjustment. I sold my family on my not going to Syracuse and going to St. Bonaventure instead by telling them that, ‘I can go to Syracuse and be expected to win 20 games every year, right? I can win 20 games there and go the NCAA Tournament and I’m just one of the guys. St. Bonaventure hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 30 years, and if I can get them there, I’ll be a legend.’ It meant more to me to leave that type of legacy behind.
AD: Did you play all four years? And did you make it into the NCAA Tournament?
TW: We made it my senior year. We played Kentucky in the opening round. It went into double overtime.
AD: By the time you were a senior were you leading the Bonnies in scoring or assists?
TW: I think my junior and senior years I was leading my team in scoring, assists and steals. In my junior year, I was second in the nation in steals behind a guy named Shante Rogers from George Washington University.
AD: So you said you learned the most basketball at LaSalle. Was it an easy transition to go play for Jim Baron at St. Bonaventure?
TW: It was. The only adjustment was getting ‘college-strong’, getting my body on the level. There wasn’t anything that I wasn’t prepared for, so it was just a matter of getting up under one of those weight programs and getting my body to catch up with my mind.
AD: I know a highlight for Jason was playing against Allen Iverson. Were there any particular matchups that stand out to you?
TW: Tim Hardaway and I were teammates for an All-Star game in the ABA. For me, Tim Hardaway is a pretty big deal. I’ve played with Olden Polynice. I’ve also played with Keith Claus. I’ve played a bunch of guys who played in the NBA, who came down to the minor leagues.
AD: How many years did you play Pro-ball?
TW: I stopped playing in 2007, so about seven years. I could’ve kept playing, but I chose a ‘regular’ life to put that degree to work.
AD: Were you getting tired of all the travel? The sleeping in hotels?
TW: It’s very tiring. The minor leagues are a year-round job and there’s really no offseason. It gets tiring after a while. You don’t have the NBA’s budget to take care of your body so it got taxing after a while.
AD: What career did you settle into when you left basketball?
TW: I was the Vice-Principal in a school in Buffalo called “Sankofa Charter School”. That came through a basketball connection. I did an appearance at the school. The kids liked it, and I was asked to become the Dean of Students which was the equivalent of being the Vice-Principal in the charter school environment. I did that for a couple of years and the school closed. Then I moved my family to Charlotte, NC.
AD: Are you still involved in the game in any way? Are you coaching an AAU team? Do you still compete in any way?
TW: It’s crazy. I’m cold turkey. I’ve been asked on numerous occasions to help coach AAU. Jeff Bishop is down here and he’s asked me on several different occasions to help him out with his AAU program. My son plays baseball and is nine years old, so I really don’t have the time to dedicate to something on that level. I wouldn’t want to cheat a group of kids by me not being there consistently. I don’t play at all and all I have left are old stories (laughing).
AD: Interesting.
TW: And I’m cool with it.
AD: Yes, it sounds like you’ve done just about everything with basketball. Going back to the LaSalle days, do you remember what your best game was? Was it one of the state tournament games? Was it one of the Niagara Falls games?
TW: It was a bunch of games. Locally, I gave Turner/Carroll 39 points, and that’s a big deal because Antoine Sims was always a great competitor and to have a great game against Turner/Carroll and that caliber of player, it’s going to stay with you for a while. I had 52 points in a game which broke Carlos Bradberry’s record; regarding records that was a big deal. My senior year in Glens Falls in the semifinal game, I scored 35 points. We were down big in the fourth quarter and then scored 39 points as a team to come back and win to advance. It was a big stage and that was against Hempstead who beat us when Carlos was a senior, so it was a little bit of payback.
AD: Of all four of your years, was there one that was your favorite?
TW: Easily. It was my junior year by far. We had a three-guard lineup and as humble as I can be in saying this, there was not another guard combination in Western New York who could stop us. You don’t really feel it when you’re in it, but now that I’m older and I’m watching the tapes, it’s just unreal to watch that team and those three guards – me being one of them.
You couldn’t key on me because Jody Crymes would give you 20 points. You couldn’t key on Jody because Terry Rich would give you 20 points. We were a well-oiled machine, and I think all three of us had over 100 steals apiece that season. It was a lot easier than my senior year.
AD: And you guys were able to nullify any height advantage your opponents had?
TW: That was our thing. You might have height, but could you run? And then, can your guards get you the ball? We didn’t lose sleep playing guys who had players 6’8” because the chances of them getting the ball over half court were slim to none.
AD: Was there anything that surprised you during your time at LaSalle?
TW: I didn’t really know how to score until I played alongside Carlos Bradberry (pictured to the left). Prior to that, all I did was steal a bunch of different skill sets from a bunch of different players who came before me. I put my attitude and personality behind me, figured out where I still had weaknesses and worked on it. Playing with Carlos my freshman year, taught me how to score; just watching how he would get buckets.
I may be the all-time leading scorer in LaSalle’s history, but I had 500 steals. Carlos had at least 1,600 points, but they were straight buckets. I keep mentioning Modie Cox – knowing that he’s in the program and living a couple of houses down from me as well – being able to watch that and watch him lead a team as a young kid meant a lot. In my junior year, we were in the semifinals in Glens Falls. Jody Crymes came down on four different possessions and scored. I’ve never been in a game where someone else besides me said, ‘We’re not losing today.’ It was one of the ‘awe-moments’ for me.
AD: I remember trying out for the Empire State Games in my sophomore year. Jody (pictured to the left) showed up with Curtis Ralands. I was on Jody’s team before the first cut.
He was lightening quick, and on one play he penetrated down the lane and I followed him down the lane looking to get a potential offensive rebound. He threw a no-look pass behind his head to me, and I didn’t expect it so it sailed right passed me. He turned around and looked me with an expression like, ‘What happened?’ I wasn’t used to playing with that caliber of player, and you guys played at that high level, and I can only imagine the three of you on the floor at once.
You went to Glens Falls all four years. For kids who never went, what’s the experience like?
TW: I guess when you win a lot, you don’t know what it’s like to not be in the environment that you’re in. I never experienced a down-time or a losing situation. To not know what it’s like to be in front of a packed house, to not be in the hotels, to not go to Glens Falls, I’ve never experienced that. Not going would’ve been a failure for us. So, for me it was what we were supposed to do, and it was how we were supposed to be treated. The message was, when you win, this is how it’s supposed to go.
AD: That’s fascinating because there were many kids who were happy just to qualify for the sectionals, but for you and your team it was getting to and winning in Glens Falls. Otherwise, it wasn’t a successful season. So, there’s something here about where you set your sights and what you shoot for.
TW: If we had lost in the sectionals it would’ve been the biggest tragedy for our program ever. Once we beat the Rochester team my freshman year (McQuaid Jesuit) in the Far West Regional, it moved to that, and I felt like we were never not going to play in this game. We knew what it felt like to win that game, and we knew what defeat felt like because John Wallace’s team (Greece-Athena) beat us the year before. Being an eighth-grader and being exposed to that game, I felt like one day I would be the guy to lead us.
AD: There are whole generations of kids who know nothing of the LaSalle Explorers except in legends and old wive’s-tales. Where were you when you heard that they were going to close and demolish LaSalle Senior High School? How did you feel when you heard it?
TW: I’m still in disbelief. So much tradition came through there, and so many success stories; not just basketball, but in general. Imagine that you buy a house and it’s in your family for 30-40 years and then you come home and the house is torn down. It felt like they tore down the house that’s been passed down for generations in our family.
I’m also bothered by the fact that when they combined the schools, Pat Monti wasn’t named the Head Coach of the Varsity program. That let me know that there is a gift and a curse to winning all the time.
AD: Okay, we’re speculating here, but does that mean there was some sort of conspiracy to keep Coach Monti out?
TW: It’s all politics. How does the best basketball coach in Niagara Falls history not get that job? He was the best coach to come through the city, one of the best coaches in Western New York. He’s in four to five different halls of fame. It’s one thing to close the school down, but to bring politics into the equation and not give him the next job? It wouldn’t have hurt as much if he had gotten the next job because the tradition would have still been in the city. Since LaSalle closed, there’s only been on state champion out of Niagara Falls, and that’s when my little cousin Paul Harris and those guys won it.
That’s the only state championship since we closed. But if you look at the rosters at Niagara Falls High School since LaSalle closed, they should have at least six or seven state championships.
AD: We can keep this off the record, but do you think there were parties that were looking at all of Coach Monti’s success and felt that you all had an unfair advantage, or were they just ready to see the brown and gold go away?
TW: As great as Coach Monti was, the people he beat up on all the time didn’t like him. Imagine being beat for years. Just think about our rivalry with Niagara Falls High School. I think we won 40 or more straight games from the late 1980s until the school closed. All of the coaches and superintendents who are responsible for the new school opening were not going to let him be the coach after kicking their asses for all of those years.
AD: Well I did ask Coach Monti that – were all the other coaches happy to see you go once word got out? He laughed. We have a few more questions, Tim. How have players changed since the days you were at LaSalle. I hear they have ‘trainers’ now, and Jason Rowe said everything is on social media. How has basketball changed?
TW: Winning has taken a backseat to stats. It no longer dominates the emotion and I don’t know when it went out of style. Your stat-line dictates everything nowadays.
In the past, winning dictated everything. You see a ton of players who don’t know how to play the game. Because winning doesn’t dominate the emotion anymore, it’s hard to call a kid on it. When winning doesn’t come first, it’s hard to complain about anything a kid does in a game. To me, that’s the biggest difference between now and back then.
Jason and I spent a lot of time together back then. I knew what it meant to him to win. Triple-doubles aside, to not win – we’re from that era where winning was everything. Yes, I had 40 points, but we won. That dominated everything for us. You worked on your jump shot so you could win. You worked on your handle so you could win. Everything was set up so you could be better placed to win the following year.
When Jason and his team weren’t winning the Rochester game, I know that he and “Mush” (Damien Foster, pictured below) went to work in the summer so they could win that game. They didn’t go to work so they could come back and average 25 and 30 points – it was time to win a state championship. There’s enough talent back home where they should be winning on a high level, but you can’t make kids approach it like that.
AD: You know they say kids today are softer, they don’t communicate the same way.
TW: Everyone is friends and that’s one of my biggest pet peeves. I love Jason and he’s my guy. We’ve been friends since he was little. I swear to you that when it came to “checking the ball up”, he was my worst enemy. There’s something missing in competition these days.
If you put Jason and me in this era, I don’t think we would be as good. I’m talking about mentally, because we would’ve been too cool with each other. Talent-wise we would’ve killed this day and age, but I think one of the best things we had in us was that we were fierce competitors, would go to war with each other and literally go get a burger later.
AD: So, Tim, is this kind of a LeBron James–Kevin Durant type of thing where it’s okay to go make a team versus building your own?
TW: Yep, it is. It always starts at the top. The players these kids look up to are all friends. Kevin Durant and LeBron James are really, really good friends. For me, I could never be that good a friend with someone to where it would impact my approach on the court. It didn’t matter who you were, I wanted to go through you on the court; family included, friends included. It didn’t matter; my mother couldn’t get a bucket on me.
Again, it’s different eras, and just like Jason (pictured with Tim to the left) said, with the impact of social media, it’s required for you to have personality. Everyone wants to be cool now and it’s just completely different than when we were young. At that time your game spoke for you. You didn’t need social media. You didn’t have to talk anywhere else. When you were on the court, it was ‘Check it up. Check ball!’ There was no greater voice than ‘Check ball!’
AD: Alright, two more. For youngsters aspiring to play basketball or to pursue any other life goal, what advice would you give them?
TW: If you’re serious about it, treat it like a job. Go to work every day. There’s a ton of kids who have trainers, and to me that work ethic is missing in today’s kids. You know which kids are working from a mile away. If it’s something that you’re serious about dive in, dive all the way in. Don’t dive halfway in and want all the results. There are a lot of kids who will give you 15% effort, but want 120% back in terms of the results. It doesn’t work that way and this is a game you really, really must go to work for.
AD: So do you think it’s unusual that they would need trainers?
TW: I think it all depends on whose hands you’re in. To me that’s everything. There are a million trainers now, a million guys like Jason Rowe and Mark Price. I would send my kids to them because I know where they’re from. I know them personally and I know their games and their resumes, so I don’t have to question what they’ll do for my kid.
One of my biggest pet peeves is kids can’t workout unless they have a trainer. Whatever happened to dribbling the ball down the street to the park? Kids won’t just go to the gym and play pickup ball anymore and that’s the era that we live in.
AD: Wow. That is strange.
TW: I’ll ask kids, ‘Are you working out?’ They’ll say, ‘I’m trying to get a trainer.’ No! Whatever happened to just getting your ball and dribbling down the middle of the street? One, two, three between the legs. One, two, three between the legs and crossover. I’m all for trainers getting their money, but I must know that it’s on the level of a Jason or Mark training them.
AD: Okay, the last question. What did playing at LaSalle for St. Bonaventure and then playing professionally teach you about life and success?
TW: For me it was one thing playing in that program. It taught me how to be a young man, and the success of the program made me feel like I could do anything. I don’t know losing, so I approach everything the same way I approached those games back then. I expected to go to Glens Falls, so when I’m in a job interview now, I expect to win.
I’m currently at Wells Fargo on the technology side and I expect to win. Playing for LaSalle, I’ve carried myself a certain way all my life because of that experience. It’s confidence, it’s borderline cockiness sometimes.
I always believe that if I approach it with the right work ethic, then it’s game over. It doesn’t matter what sport it is. It doesn’t matter what realm of life it is. If I approach it with same approach I used on the court at LaSalle, I’m going to win. Period.
And you can ask any of the teammates that I’ve had. It’s just something that’s in you. It just did something to us as kids. We just always believe that we’re going to be alright.
AD: Well Tim, that’s all I’ve got, unless you have any other comments or stories, thank you for telling your story.
TW: It’s been an honor to speak on this.
A special thank you is extended to Tim Winn for taking the time out to discuss his story and the LaSalle basketball program. In case you missed it, see part one of our interview. Also see parts one and two of my interview with legendary LaSalle Head Coach Pat Monti, my interview with legendary Buffalo Traditional point guard Jason Rowe, some of my personal basketball stories surrounding my book project, and a piece I wrote up regarding former college and professionals basketball player Chris Herren, who now tours and speaks about substance and wellness for teens:
I intend to create more promotional/teaser pieces for The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story, both via print and video as I journey through the final steps of completing the book. I created a page on Big Words Authors for the purpose of giving a background of the book and grouping all the promotional pieces, such as this in one, for interested readers.
The Big Words LLC Newsletter
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at [email protected] . Yours in good sports. Best Regards.
Some of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, and both Business and Entrepreneurship. A major key for any entrepreneur is properly hiring and managing new staff – two aspects that can cause any business to crash if not done correctly. This contributed post is thus entitled; Don’t Hire Your First Employee Until You’ve Considered The Following.
One of the biggest steps that most entrepreneurs need to take is hiring their first member of staff. It’s an exciting time when it is time to consider hiring an employee, as it means that the company is going in the right direction and growing steadily. However, it does come with a few implications as well, such as being a huge expense. If a company owner mistimes hiring an employee, then it could cost their business thousands at a time when it can’t really afford it.
So, as you can see, it is essential that you do your homework and make sure your business is in the right position to bring on a new member. To help you out, here are a few things that you need to consider before you do start looking for your first employee.
Firstly, it’s necessary to think about the cost that will come with hiring a new member of staff. Once you do hire someone, you will need to start paying them a wage which will obviously be one of your company’s biggest expenses. It’s worth reviewing your budget to make sure that your company is making as much as you think and that you will definitely be able to cover this expense.
Think About How You Word Your Job Description
Before you start reviewing applicants for your newly open position, you will need to draft up a job description. After all, if you don’t advertise the fact that you are hiring, how will anyone know that they can apply to work for you? When you are writing the job description and ideal candidate specification, it is important to take care that you mention all the tasks and responsibilities that will come with the job. The more detail there is, then the more chance that only those with the right qualifications and experience will apply. If the job description is too vague, then you might get some unsuitable applicants, and sifting through these will only waste your time.
Before you do set out on employing a full-time employee, it’s worth asking yourself if it makes more sense to find a contractor instead. Even though contractors and freelancers are often more expensive to pay than full-time employees, you will benefit from the fact that you don’t have to provide them with any financial benefits. For instance, you will need to give any full-time employees paid vacation and sick days as well as help them with pension contributions. This isn’t the case with contractors as they aren’t entitled to these kinds of benefits. So, even though they may charge you slightly more than average, you will actually end up saving a lot of money thanks to their lack of entitlements.
It’s always a good idea to reassess your company’s base as well. It needs to be safe for people to work in or else you might end up needing to hire the likes of Richard Vadnal to represent you in the event that you are taken to court by an employee who injured themselves in the workplace. Even though you might think that an office is a safe environment in which to work, there are still some hazards and risks that you might need to be aware of. For instance, you need to carry out a regular fire drill with any employees you hire so that everyone is aware of how to act in the event of a fire. Make sure the office space is also kept clean and tidy so that there are no trip hazards on the floor. Furniture should be ergonomic so that employees aren’t at risk from developing repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Once you have some employed staff on your team, you will need to get all the relevant insurance. This is so that you are covered in the events of any accidents and injuries that occur in the workplace. The insurance should pay out to cover any compensation claims so that it doesn’t have to come out of your business’s pockets. Not only that, though, but the insurance will also cover any claims from clients if they are unhappy with the quality of work carried out by your employees.
Set Up Payroll
In order to pay your full-time employees, you should set up a payroll system. This makes it much easier to sort out your workers’ tax payments as well as figuring out their insurance contributions. It can be quite tricky to set up this kind of system, especially if you have no experience in doing so. Some entrepreneurs like to outsource this to a HR professional to get them up and running, while others prefer to hire a HR team member as one of their first new recruits so that they can set up payments ready for all incoming new team members.
Before you do welcome someone new onto your team, you need to make sure that there is a contract between the two of you. This is essential as it will set out exactly what is expected from all parties. For instance, it should include the agreed wage as well as employee’s scope of work. The contract should also explain how the contract can be legally terminated by each party, by having this outlined this can stop employees being wrongfully fired and ending up getting a workers compensation attorney due to breach of contract..
Keep Records Of Everyone
Once your first employee starts working for you, it is important that you keep records of everything. These can then be used as evidence in the event of any disputes or arguments between the two of you. It’s also necessary to keep complete documents of employees’ hours, sick days and anything at all that is relevant to their position. Keep these documents safe as you never know when you might need to use them in the future.
Hopefully, considering all the points above will make it easier for you to figure out whether now is really the right time to hire your first ever employee. Good luck with growing your company!
