Solving the Problem (Assignment 8A)

     The problem I am creating a solution to is the fact that in today's society, less and less people want to be in the service-related industries, specifically plumbers and electricians, and that with this, people are struggling to find these people at a reasonable price.
     The solution to my problem is quite simple, however, there is something that may or may not be another part of my solution. The simple part of the solution is to create a company that provides the necessary plumbing and electricity related services to these people that cannot find reasonable answers to their household problems. I will of course have to create a company and all the background logistics included with that. I also will have to hire and train (or find trained) employees that I am certain that they can fix the problems related to each and every job. Next, I will have to spend time and money on researching areas or regions in the United States with rising incomes and areas where the majority of the population are waning away from the service related industries. I will need to pinpoint specific areas and advertise there in order to gain knowledge of what my company provides.                            

     For the second part of my solution, I would love to work with a team of engineers and come up with some smart technology that can constantly monitor their electrical lines and check their plumbing in order for them and me, as their client, to be aware of any future problems so that I can notify them and fix the problems as they occur. This also will ensure that these clients are returning customers and to instill in them a sense of commitment by my company that we will be there with them through all their problems.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 (Assignment 7A)

1. The opportunity I am choosing for the class is to capitalize on the fact that people in today's society do not want to be plumbers and electricians, and therefore, I want to create a company with skilled plumber and electricians to serve the upper class and their household needs.

2. Because of the above problem, there is a shortage of available and reasonably priced plumbers and electricians in the U.S, and therefore I will pursue this problem and list the following.
Who: The who is people in the U.S that are struggling to find a decent plumber or electrician.
What: The what is finding these people easily, locally, and at a decent price.
Why: The why is due to everyone's and society's perspective that in order to be successful and accepted in society, one has to be a professional, like a doctor or lawyer, and that nobody really wants to be a worker in the original service-based industry.

3. My hypothesis is that if I can create a company that can very effectively target an area of a state in the United States that has a lack of plumbers and electricians, and base my company there to service those needs, I can make a decent profit. Also, I would need to make sure that that area or areas are in a relatively upper-class region of the given state, and that this problem really occurs to enough people for it to be feasible. I believe that this opportunity exists with the wealthier community as with the lower class community, they are more likely to fix their own issues or know someone that can do it for them, compared to the wealthier community that are less likely to have those connections with their professional acquaintances.

4. After interviewing 5 individuals from different social classes, ethnicities, and from different parts of the U.S, I found some very interesting information. In summation, I found that my idea of this opportunity is quite spot on. In my home town of Boca Raton, Florida, I talked to two people, both of which are in the upper class earning higher than or equal to 6 figure salaries, both of which agreed with my point completely. They told me that I would need to definitely partner with construction firms as they are the people who currently refer specific electricians and plumbers that the new homeowners can contact in need of help, but that these people are sometimes not reliable, and charge crazy rates. When talking to two others (one from Ohio and one from New York) who fall into a middle to lower class social status, they still agreed with me that the need is becoming more prominent, but that they do have more accessibility to friends and neighbors that can fix most of their problems for them at no to little charge. They live in neighborhoods where their neighbors are sometimes in that field, or due to trial and error, have simply learned these skills and can help them with most issues they find. Some things I did not think of or was not aware of is the fact that it is going to be hard to find and train these plumbers and electricians in the first place. Because I stated before that most people do not want these jobs anymore, I completely did not think of how I was going to find them in the first place and some interviewees pointed that out to me, which was a little funny. Overall, I found that the who is most definitely people in the upper class with little to no expertise or knowledge in where to find electricians and plumbers, and that the what is sometimes there and sometimes not, meaning that some people may have these connections and have their needs met, but that a lot of others do not and are in search of a feasible alternative. Also, for the why, I noticed that this need is not always needed, but that, again, the upper class are more in need because of their connections with people in these fields.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends (Assignment 6A)

1st Story (Regulatory):

• I found this information on the Washington Post website, and the article has to do with President Trump's continuous push for the building of the wall to divide Mexico with the United States. 
• This information leads me to believe that an opportunity exists because it is something that is brand new between the U.S and Mexico, and with this, many new problems and opportunities will arise in the form of immigration, transportation, selling and buying products, and business in general with Mexico. 
• I think the customer with the opportunity is the many people in the U.S that use illegal and un-documented immigrants to work on their farms, construction, and projects alike. With a much greater influx of these illegal immigrants, the business owners will be looking for more work by U.S citizens, and/or will look somewhere else to get their jobs done. This is only one of the many needs that will occur after the wall is built (if it ever is) and with these problems will come many more opportunities for people to capitalize on. 
• This opportunity will be relatively easy to exploit as once the wall is built and illegal immigrants cease entrance into the U.S, there will be massive need for cheap workers and with this, capitalizing on that will be quite easy. Also, with the opportunities I cannot foresee yet, I believe all of them will be quite easy to exploit as once the wall is built, it is built, and there is most definitely needs that will not be met because of it.
• I believe that others have already seen this opportunity and that some are already capitalizing on the void in the market that is going to be apparent in the near future. I saw it as my dad and I talk extensively about it and all the new problems/ opportunities that will arise from the wall being built. Also, I have worked for my dad who sometimes sub-contracted work with un-documented immigrants, and have talked to them about their feelings with this wall being built.  Many of them say that landscaping businesses will soon go out of business and many companies alike will have the same fate because of the lack of workers. This again made me realize that with this work shortage, many opportunities will arise to fill that hole in the market. 

2nd Story (Regulatory): 

• The information I found for this topic is from the CNBC website, and it has to do with the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that has raised the bar on what people have to donate to charities in order to get a tax deduction. There are new steps one has to take to get this deduction, and the amount of money that someone has to donate (both married and single) has almost doubled in both categories in order to be eligible for the deduction in the first place. 
• This creates an opportunity because with this new law, non-profit organizations and charities will almost definitely receive lower amounts of funding, and therefore the problems they are trying to fix will be even more neglected. This chain reaction will be felt in the poor and needy community, the environmental sector, and every area where donations are needed. 
• The customer with the opportunity is someone who can find a way to create a business or some venture that will take over some of these non-profit organizations and maybe turn them into a for-profit organization in order to continue to fix the problems that were once being attacked before this new law. If nothing is done in this way, the next opportunity will arise when the problems that these non-profits and charities were trying to fix get even larger, and then when that happens, there will need to be major change which someone can find a way to capitalize on. 
• I believe that this opportunity is going to be relatively hard to exploit as the law is so new and no one really knows what the effects of it are going to be. Also, because this area involves non-profits and charities, it is very hard to try and find a way to spin those organizations into something more efficient and profitable because of their very regulated and government-backed way of operating. Also, I am not a professional in this area so there may be easy or hard ways to attack the problem, but I just can't seem to think of any at this point in my life.
• I saw this opportunity as I personally own a non-profit organization and due to this new law, I am nervous about what will happen to the flow of funds that we are currently receiving. I am also aware that many people donate to my (and many other) non-profit because of the tax- deduction they receive from that donation, and some others may not even know that this process occurs in the first place leading me to be more prone to seeing this problem. 

3rd Story (Economic):

• I found this information on the JP Morgan Chase website, which discusses the 6 largest economic trends of 2018 and into 2019. What I found interesting was the fact that the US has implemented a tax reform that cuts government revenues by $205 billion, therefore, leaving all that money in the hands of the consumers and citizens of the U.S.
• This information leads me to believe that an opportunity may exist because with people having more money, this means that more people will be willing to spend their money and/or invest it. From personal experience, if I have more money, I am more willing to spend it or use it to make more money, and in this case with the U.S tax reform, the same is most likely to be true, giving entrepreneurs a greater opportunity to launch their businesses. Because I think more people are willing to spend their money, this means that if someone is launching a business, it will be easier for them to gain funds and investors because of the more money that these investors will have in the first place.
• Of course, entrepreneurs and start-up companies are the customers that have the opportunity here as with the more money in the hands of consumers, the more money they are capable of getting. Also, any business that has a new product or service to launch has a new opportunity with this tax reform as it gives them a greater chance of consumers buying these ideas and making the launch more profitable for the company owners. 
• I think that this opportunity is relatively difficult to exploit because yes the idea sounds right, but the entrepreneur still needs to be able to pinpoint those people that got to keep a larger chunk of money due to the reform, and know how to persuade them to give it up. Fundraising in general is hard to master, but with this large sum of money in the hands of consumers, it may make it easier for fundraisers to persuade investors to give some of it up. 
• I thin that I saw this opportunity because of my slight background with fundraising with my non-profit. I saw this tax reform and saw that it put more money in the hands of consumers and it immediately clicked that with more money in circulation, that means more people are willing to spend it. I believe others saw this opportunity as well and maybe had a little more specific approach to exploiting it, but I saw this opportunity through my lens of having a greater chance of getting investors because it made sense and correlated with the way I think when I have more money in my pocket. 

4th Story (Economic): 

• The information I found for this opportunity is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and INC.com, which both show the hiring crisis in the U.S and the struggle that some businesses are having with expanding because they can't hire the skilled workers they need. 
• This information leads me to believe that an opportunity exists because if businesses can't find workers, this means that the labor force is not getting a proper education or training, and therefore a business that trains people to specific jobs and tasks would be something that can be easily created to fix this problem. If an entrepreneur wanted to help try and fix this problem, they can advertise a company that will train individuals in specific fields with the skills they need to be hired by the companies that need employees. 
• I think an entrepreneur that wants to start this business has the opportunity as they can use this need to create a business for themselves, but that the companies that need hiring are also potential customers. These needy companies can sub-contract this training business to train their existing/ new employees so that they can be more efficient and effective when on the clock, so therefore these companies are very much a prototypical customer. 
• I believe that this opportunity is relatively easy to exploit because an individual just has to find some companies in need, present their solution and train the employees. I know it isn't that simple, but that is basically all that has to happen here because to fix a problem there has to be a need, and in this situation the need and solution are pretty clear and easy to accomplish in my eyes. 
• I believe that I saw this opportunity because a couple years ago my dad and I were at a high end restaurant and after being very surprised with how un-satisfied we were with the majority of the service there, we began to talk about a business that trains waiters and waitresses to the standard that the company needs. He believed that was an amazing opportunity for someone to capitalize on, and with this idea still in my head, I saw this information and immediately thought back to the conversation with my dad at lunch. 

Identifying local opportunities (assignment 5A)

The local newspaper I am using is the Palm Beach Post which is a local news station for Palm Beach County.
1st Story:

• "Elementaries Feel Pinch of Teacher Shortage" 
• https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3APBPB%21Palm%2BBeach%2BPost%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0120%21January%2B20&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/171126026EB8B180
• This article delves into the problems that Palm Beach County is having due to the shortage of teachers in their public school system, specifically focusing on elementary schools. They go on to explain how this problem is occurring due to the lower salaries teachers are recieving, as well as the ill-equipped classrooms they do get which makes their jobs harder to do from the start. The article talks about how Miami-Dade and Hillsborogh Counties (just outside of Palm Beach County) are having the worst shortage with 468 and 224 un-filled spots, respectively. They also go on to explain that Palm Beach County relies heavily on Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton to shoot out teachers from their program, but that even these numbers are dropping every year. 
• The problem presented in the story is that Florida, specifically Palm Beach County, is having an extreme shortage of teachers and that this is causing many un-filled positions to appear. In turn, students are being coralled into larger classrooms and substitute teachers are filling the positions, and in the end, this is hurting the students, as explained by the article
• Again, the teachers, students, parents, and administation all have the problem in this case as this shortage of teachers hurts all of them. It hurts the teachers because some have to work harder to fill the void, and it also hurts them because year after year the salary of a teacher is going down so there is no incentive to work hard. It hurts the children because they are receiving a worse and worse education, and their futures will be severely hurt due of this. Also, it hurts the parents of the students as they will have to pay and care for their children longer in their life if they receive a poor education. And finally, it hurts the administration of the schools as their jobs become harder while trying to fill their schools; and their reputations are being hurt if the students at their schools are not getting a proper education. 

2nd Story: 

• "Trio of Palm Beach County Restaurants Shut Down Temporarily"
• https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F17107C783069E008
• This article discusses the couple restaurants that were shut down temporarily due to their failure in passing various health inspections. The three that were shut down are Peking Place, Pizza Corner, and Aloha Dogs all due to their violation of over 5 health inspection topics ranging from no soap or hot water, to dead and alive roaches all throughout the kitchen. They explain that even though these restaurants were closed for a couple days, that the rules were still broken and to just be aware of some health risks in the area, as well as informing the public with needed data.
• As described in the article, the problem is the lack of awareness, and the lack of cleanliness of some restaurants in the area, as well as the potential health risks that the community was subject to during that time. The author was highlighting the health risks that the restuarants had, listing exactly what the problems were and how they were discovered. 
• As far as who has the problem, I would say that both the local community and the restaurant owners themselves had the problem in this scenario. The local community had the problem because if they ate at any of those locations, they could've been subject to food-borne illnesses which would cause harm to them physically, but also financially with medical bills. The restaurant owners have the problem as well as they lost profit during those couple days being close, as well as gaining bad publicity and a bad perspective of their restaurant by the public. 

3rd Story: 

• "'Its a Struggle' says TSA Employee of Work Without Pay During Shutdown"
• https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1712226F85A1F888
• This article discussed the effects of the recent government shutdown on employees of the government in Palm Beach County, and the struggles that it is causing. They talked about some personal cases of TSA employees at the Palm Beach International Airport that could not pay for Child Care, their mortgages, and in some cases, not even gas and groceries. Some employees only get paid somewhere from $30,000-50,000, and without their bi-weekly checks, they are struggling to provide for themsevles and their families. 
• The problem presented in the story is the fact that these government employees are working without pay, and due to this they are not being able to provide for themselves or their families. This problem is due to the government shutdown, in which a government worker's pay is halted  until the shutdown ends, but it will be retracted back to when the shutdown began. 
• The people that have the problem, however, are government employees of course, but also the government, society, and the families of those employees that are relying on their partners to provide for them. The shutdown hurts the goverment as with it, they now have to pay a larger sum of money at the end of the shutdown, but during that time, some workers will not have even attended their jobs, therefore, the government is paying them for the work they didn't do. It also creates social unrest and backlash when the government is shutdown and employees are not getting paid because it is a sign to them that the government is not working well together, and that there are problems there which no one likes to hear. 

4th Story: 

• "City Ditches Plan for Bike Lanes on Swinton Ave." 
• https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F171276C6D2D45BB8
• This article explains how Delray Beach's Vice Mayor, Adam Frankel changed year-long plans of creating bike lanes down historic Swinton Avenue. The plan was to put 2.6 million dollars into the contruction of bike lanes on the avenue, but that with this over 100 old trees would be cut down in the process. The article also discusses the large discussions over this project with members of society, and how there were large groups fighting for both sides of the debate. 
• The problem in this story is the debate over whether or not to create bike lanes on Swinton Avenue in Delray Beach, Florida, and with this, what part of the local community will be upset and/or happy. With bike lanes, the environment would be cleaner with less air pollution from burning fossil fuels while also creating a more connected community amongst the people who live there. With no bike lanes, some members of the community will be pleased with the fact that they saved the old, beautiful trees and that Swinton's history will be preserved. 
• As far as who has the problem, I think that the people that were dissatisfied owned most of the problems because with either decision there were many opportunity costs for one side or the other. With bike lanes, bikers would be happy; and without the bike lanes, environmentalists and nature people would be more happy. 

5th Story: 

• "Parking at DuBois Park will no longer be free - Visitors to waterfront park in Jupiter will now have to pay a flat fee on weekends and holidays"
• https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F170F7F434F7273D8
• This article is discusses the new fee charged at DuBois Park in Jupiter, Florida on holidays and the weekends. Due to the larger influx of people coming to the park, the local government voted to charge a $10 fee for local residents, and a $20 fee for non-residents, not for the revenue, but for crowd control. They discussed how the once free-parking at DuBois Park was something that everyone took advantage of, and because of it, the park was always overcrowded and not as enjoyable as it once was. They also explained how this is an uncommon thing for Jupiters Park Services to do, but because of DuBois' popularity, it was seen as necessary. 
• The problem in this article was the overcrowding of DuBois Park, and the way these crowds made the park look and sound. The parking fee is not the problem here, it is the solution to the problem the city had with a popular park. 
• The people that have the problem in this situation are the residents and non-residents of Jupiter as they are the ones that have a new fee to pay on something that once wasn't charged for. Now, local residents cannot just go casually to the park unless they can financially give up $10 every time they want to simply go see the ocean and mangroves. The same problem goes to non-residents, as it may dissuade them to go see the park. 

Opportunity Belief (Assignment 4A)

1. I have a belief that there is an opportunity in the near future to be a business owner of a plumbing or some sort of service related company.

2. After talking to many of my parent's friends, many of them are under the belief that so many other people want to someone great, therefore no one wants to be the plumbers, electricians, and people like these because these jobs are becoming looked down upon by the middle class. My parents, and a countless number of their friends, have a problem finding a decent plumber nowadays, and when they do, the rates they charge are very high, coming from the smaller amount of competition for work. This problem is relatively new, and is actually just starting to become a problem, but after talking with my dad about this exact problem, I have become more confident that it will become a greater issue. At this point, to meet this need of finding a decent plumber, people are just paying the inflated rates, seeing no other alternative. I am 60% confident that this problem exists in many regions of the U.S, if not, all developed countries.

3(a). The first person I talked to was my Uncle John.
4(a). He lives in Ohio in a middle to higher class area. When I asked if he believed this problem existed, he agreed, stating that he never even thought of it as being an opportunity/ problem until I mentioned it. He remembered years before when the prices were lower and he agreed with my statement of changing societal ideals about what a "good job" is. However, he also mentioned to me that with the internet, many people can trooubleshoot a lot of their problems rather than hire a plumber, but he still agreed that many poeple wouldn't even attempt trying. Because there still are plumbers, he never needed a single "solution," but after I explained my idea of starting a business with many well-trained plumbers for a higher class area of South Florida, he thought that it was a great idea.

3(b). The second person I interviewed was my friend's parent, Tim Bull, who lives in a middle to lower class neighborhood.
4(b). Tim lives in South Florida and works as an electrician in the city of Deerfield Beach. After discussing all of the suggested questions, he agreed with me greatly that there is a significant decrease in the number of people who want to work in the service-related industries, including plumbers. He told me that he has been noticing this decrease for the past 3-5 years, and that he has also seen the rates of a lot of other companies rising with this decrease of other competitors. He told me that most of the poeple he services do not mind the increase in prices, and that getting into this industry is not a good thing to get into due to smart technology taking over many of these service jobs.

3(c). The third person I interviewed was a family friend, Laura, who lives in a very upper class neighborhood in Boca Raton, Florida.
4(c). After I discussed some things with her, she too agreed that finding a good plumber to work on her sprinkler system. She told me that not long ago, a water pipe broke under her house and that becuase of such short notice, she paid an astronomical amount for the guy to just pull up one floor board and replace the pipe. She told me she doesn't take care of that kind of stuff around the house, but she talked to her husband on the spot, and he too agreed that the price of hiring a plumber is huge right now, and that he has only noticed that after their water pipe incident becuase of how infrequently he needed a plumber. He said that the last time he needed a plumber, the price seemed to be relatively normal, but that that time was about 2 years before. He said that the only way he is going to accomodate the need is to just try to find a cheaper plumber, but if not, to just pay the price because they have no other option.

5. After talking to these people, I have noticed a few things about my opportunity. For one, I noticed that this problem occurs more so to the upper class, which in reality, is a very small percentage of the population. However, I still feel that a business can be created out of this niche problem, but that I may need to do more research on how feasible it really is. Secondly, I learned that this problem will probably continue to be a bigger issue, and that I should keep my eye out on rates and trends to really see if my hypothesis is correct. I was surprised that I didn't even think about the fact that the internet eliminates a lot of hiring because individuals can learn so much online that they may not even need a plumber most of the time.

7. I believe that a lot of my original opportunity is still there but that I may have lowered my percentage a little. Even though I realized that the amount of people having this problem is smaller than I thought, I still believe that there is enough people to capitalize off of, and that this problem will continue to become a larger issue. I definately believe that my opportunity is more narrowed and accurate now, being that I narrowed my target customer. I believe that it is imperative to listen to customer feedback as they are the ones who are buying the product and as they say, the customer is your boss. I think that if so many people are telling you the same thing that you should maybe reconsider that part of your product/ service, but that someone should take normal criticism lightly and not take everything to heart. The random criticism is normal and should be payed attention to, but that it should not always change your mind on things you believe are right in your product/ service.

Entrepreneurship Story (Assignment 3A)

     Ever since I was young I have been around entrepreneurial people as that is how my dad and his friends worked. Because of this, I have always been interested in self-employment and this led me to take up some entrepreneurial endeavors myself. 

     After some successful projects and some failing ones, the one I will explain here is my latest business project, creating an E-commerce store. After noticing the rise of E-commerce, I looked into it and with a friend, and we decided to open a website and a store on Shopify to start selling overseas products. We watched many videos and talked to as many people as we could to gain insight on how to properly advertise using various social media platforms, as well as a general direction on how to approach marketing and creating a well-organized website.  

     I had a family friend that does business in China, and after talking to him for a while, we made a deal where he could help us with overseas shipping and filling orders, therefore making the entire process so much easier for us as my friend and I had no idea on how to make a connection in China. After this, we researched a few products like Valentine's Day gifts and sports gear to sell on our website. After making some amateur video ads and narrowing our targeted audience with some weeks of learning, we started to see some sales roll in. It was so satisfying and rewarding to see people become persuaded by our ads and like our products enough to go and buy them online. 

     After a couple more weeks, the sales slowed and we were spending more on ads than we were making in sales so we decided to take all ads down and rethink our attack. That is where we left off a couple weeks ago and we are still in the process of finding new products and redesigning our ads. Even though we ended up losing a little in the end, the entire process was very informative and I learned more than I ever have about online sales and how E-commerce works in the little area I was working in. I also learned that I am not a huge fan of doing business completely online and that I really need to work on my marketing skills. 

     For the second part of the question regarding this class, I took ENT 3003 for many different reasons. The first reason was that I wanted to see what UF could offer regarding information with entrepreneurship and I was really interested to see what I could learn as I want to start my own thing for my profession. Another reason I took this class was that some friends told me that it was really interesting and that it made them think a little different when it came to discovering new markets and business opportunities. 

   

Bug List (Assignment 2A)

1. I get very annoyed that all class assignments nowadays are online due to the massive influx of students in college, and because of technology making it easier for professors to grade.

     - This problem occurs because it makes the lives of professors and TA's easier when everything is in an organized system, however, the integrity of the work being done has diminished with technology.

2. I get annoyed having to wait so long for the elevator to come down and the time it takes to open when it finally gets to where I am in my dorm (Infinity Hall). 

     - This problem occurs because of the technology made into the elevator and the fact that it is safer to have a slow opening door and slow transport between floors.

3. I am angered when driving down the highway in desolate areas, and the only thing that you can eat at rest stops are unhealthy, highly processed foods.

     - This problem probably occurs due to the longer-lived shelf-life of processed foods, and due to the simplicity of making fast food at these rest stops. This is probably because of the type of employees that are willing to work at these rest-stops, not having the ability or skill to make higher-quality foods.

4. I get annoyed having such a small and ill-equipped kitchen area in Infinity Hall as I want to cook my meals and have ample space and facilities to do so. 

     - This problem occurs most probably because of the dorm faculty's understanding that not many students cook, when in reality they do, and they don't want to spend the money on new and more appliances.

5. I get annoyed nowadays with how many people go on their phones when walking anywhere, which has made society and just going to places in general much less fun and sociable. 

     - This occurs due to the "safe haven" that phones give to people and the fact that they can look at something they want rather than making conversations with new people. 

6. I get annoyed when after cooking with olive oil, no matter how hard you clean the dish, there is always some oil left over somewhere, and also the mere fact of how hard it is to clean off in the first place. 

     - This occurs due to the consistency and make-up of the olive oil, making it very hard to break up and take off of a surface.

7. Another bug of mine is the fact that we still have to use a towel to dry ourselves after the shower, when in this time of technology, there should be a more environmentally-friendly way to dry ourselves.

     - This probably is the way it is due to the very high cost of production as well as the little interest that there probably is in this problem of mine.

8. Another thing that annoys me is the situation that occurs on the highway when there is a fender bender, and from then on there is terrible traffic for miles just because people slowing to look. 

     - This happens due to the mere interest of bystanders being amused at seeing a car accident, however, it is quite unfortunate for people far behind. 

9. I also get irked when I go to Publix to get a sub and there is only one person making the sandwiches and it takes 40 minutes to get mine with only 5 people in front of me.

     - This happens most likely because of a shortage of employees, or due to the fact that only one person is advised to make the sandwiches.

10. Another thing that annoys me is when I go to most parking garages, especially on campus, and I aimlessly drive around hoping to find a spot, only to find there isn't any, and I wish there was an app that could show if there was any parking and the alternatives nearby. 

     - This happens due to the growing amount of people on campus, and the fact that it is hard to grow the parking area in am already set area.  

11. Another thing that annoys me is when I am at the gym at Southwest Rec and all the weights I need to use are being used already. This ruins the flow of my workout and it happens quite regularly.

     - This problem occurs due to the larger amount of people coming in, in regards to how many people the gym can fit. 

12. I also get annoyed when I order take-out from a restaurant and they tell me a set time, yet when I get there on time the food is not ready or even close to being ready.

     -This occurs because there is no system I have encountered that tells you exactly what time your food is ready, neither can people always be perfect and make the food on time.

13. I also get bugged when I wash my clothes at my dorm and after taking them out of the washer, some are dry and have been untouched by the soap and water. 

     -This probably happens due to the spinning motion of the washer making all the clothes stick to the sides, and therefore the soap can't reach the inner circle clothes. It leaves some clothes still dirty and it requires me to spend more money on washing.

14. Another thing that annoys me is going into the bathroom and there being pee all near the urinals. 

     -This happens because of lazy, disrespectful people who don't stand close enough to pee and they get some on the ground which is then tracked all around.

15. I also get annoyed with having to open a door when leaving the bathroom. I am a slight germ freak and I hate touching a potentially nasty door handle when leaving.

     - This happens because of my phobia per se, as well as there being some doors that do not open automatically, or without the need of grabbing anything. 

16. Another thing that bugs me is dust in my dorm room. 

     -This happens due to the dirty air vents, and the fact that cleaning up all the dust in a room is very hard to do, also being a college student with restricted time. 

17. I get annoyed by clothes getting wrinkled if they are not folded immediately after being dried. 

     - This happens due to the creases solidifying in the shirt when it goes from hot to cool, however, it is quite unfortunate when your clothes are all wrinkly if there is not enough time to fold all my clothes. 

18. Another thing that irks me is trying to do my homework in my dorm room with such limited space and a never quiet environment.  

     - This happens due to the differing schedules of my roommates, and the very tiny space provided in a dorm room. It makes it very hard to focus and work and definitely impairs me from completing my best work. 

19. Another annoying thing is when I squirt toothpaste on my toothbrush and if some falls off, it immediately sticks to the bowl of the sink and is hard to get off, leaving stains. 

     - This happens due to the sticky nature of toothpaste, however, if there was an easier way to clean the toothpaste of, it would be a much nicer experience. 

20. One last thing that annoys me is waiting in line when in the emergency room at a hospital. 

     - This to me happens because of an ill-equipped employment staff at the given hospital, as well as the large influx of patients in the hospital in regards to the number of nurses on hand. This is very annoying as it is the time you want immediate attention, and it almost never happens that way. 

     When doing this assignment, I found it very difficult to think of things that annoyed me in my everyday life. After coming up with a few major things that I come across quite frequently, I found it interesting that it took so long to think of a handful of other things. I knew that many things bugged me, however, finding ones that are relevant to this class or can even be fixed by a product or service, was a little harder than I expected. In the end, I found this activity really interesting and kind of fun as it helped me realize that I should pay more attention to problems in society.

John's First Blog Post of 2019

This is the first blog post that I have created in 2019, and I am trying to learn how it works.