Reflection - week 1

This has got to be the most interesting introduction to on-line
education. My last stint with any type of course work required
attendance in a classroom environment with a professor.
Here it's via conferences, emails, etc. (No physical interaction).
I do hope everyone at least post a picture of themselves so that
I can match a face to a classmate.
What have I learned so far; a bunch of information from a book,
how to quickly get into and through all the classmates
comments, how to be patient with my team mates schedules
(guess they are really busy and don't check the course work as
often as I do), time management (with work and another class,
plus afterwork life) is critical in learning this material and
putting in the time to get as much from this course as I put in.
Next week should be also interesting as we (my teammates
and I) should be getting into our project and also how well I do
with budgeting time.

Marlon's BIO

Hail Mon!

Hello all – this is a Jamaican greeting.Here is my bio…...


My place of birth was in the tiny Caribbean island of Jamaica but I have been in the US since 17 (so I’m essentially an American as my Jamaican roots are just memories). The name of my high school is Cornwall College (the name isn’t representative of a College as in the US). I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.
I was an employee of Motorola, Inc. for the last 26 ½ years, developing (then managing) embedded Software for their two-way communications hand-held products until I was downsized last February due to the severe condition of the economy.

I am now the Engineering Program Manager at Trident Micro Systems in Arden North Carolina (in the western area of the state up in the mountains). We also develop two-way communications products. (Sometimes I believe I’m in paradise.)


I am enrolled in the Master of Science in Information Technology - Database Systems Technology Program with plans to continue studies in the Networking field.

I am a single father of one son. His name is Nicholas, is 25 years old and enjoying life to the fullest (he lives one block of South Beach in sunny Miami Beach, Florida); 20 years ago, I would have envied him, but all I can do now is tell him “to be careful out there”. He visits his grandparents (my parents) daily in South Miami, which I am grateful for as my grandparents were not alive for me to appreciate them.


I too enjoy my job, but for other reasons. I love the fact that Trident Micro Systems is a “small” company and everyone knows everyone. At Motorola, the company is so large (thousands of employees), it was impossible to know everyone. When I started at Motorola, it wasn’t too large, and I had the opportunity to meet with a number of the past CEO’s and “chit chat” with them… Now, it’s not that easy to.

My passion is steel tip darts. At one point, quite a few years ago, I aspired to be in the top 100 players in the world. Well, it is nice to dream. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with one of the top players in the world, Phil Taylor, after one of his matches in Las Vegas, NV a couple years ago. He told me that he practices 8 to 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, and this is less than he used to when he was younger. Wow!!!
That put a damper on my things as I do not have the time to put towards this dream; oh well…

Now my goal is to pursue my Master’s Degree in preparation for the future.