Colds and Flu at School - Prevention

It’s the time of year we dread at Community Business College – the onset of cold and flu season.

We try everything we can to avoid getting and spreading colds: hand sanitizers stationed strategically around the campus, sanitizing facial tissues in each classroom, Lysol used to clean fixtures. But still it happens. Someone will catch a cold and then it spreads.

What to do?

Is the winter cold secret cure right in our pantries? Some say apple cider vinegar is the key to staying healthy and shortening the lengths of a cold or flu. One of our instructors, who teaches the customer service classes, suggests gargling with two-teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water. It can be a quick way to lessen a sore throat. She says drinking the mix every day is even healthier and mixing some honey in it makes it taste a lot better.


Can it be that simple? Anecdotally, people have found that while apple cider vinegar might not be a miracle cure that completely eliminates all symptoms, it can be a good method to lessen some of the symptoms. And a dose a day may contribute to preventing colds in the first place.

    The Recipe:

        The 1 – 2 – 3 Apple Cider Vinegar Drink
        1 cup of warm water
        2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar (unfiltered if possible)
        3 teaspoons of honey.
        Stir all ingredients together until honey is completely dissolved.
               Optional: a shot of lemon juice to give it a fresh flavor.


The Theory

The goal of drinking apple cider vinegar is to fight off infection. The theory is the vinegar does this by simply keeping fluids where they belong: in your body’s cells, not in bacteria.

The body becomes more alkaline during a cold and the vinegar will help to re-balance the body’s acid level. Viruses don’t care much for the body’s normal acidic pH level and acidic ingredients can help with that.


Digestion Boost

Good digestion leads to good health. Two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar added to a glass of water at each meal is supposed to be helpful in maintaining the health of your digestive tract, and in turn, the all-around health of your body.


By eating foods that are sources of potassium, such as fruit, berries, edible leaves, broccoli, edible roots, and honey, and apple cider vinegar the body can maintain cardiovascular and bone health. Potassium is also good for the body enzymes required to have a strong metabolism.


Circulation Is Important Too

People with improved circulation report better mental acuity and clearer thinking.

Apple cider vinegar might assist with that. Being high in potassium, it keeps the soft tissues of the body supple and flexible. That’s a good thing because flexible circulatory systems keep the blood flowing and gives the body and brain all the oxygen they need to operate at peak efficiency.

The old axiom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is a good way to approach this cold and flu season.

Apple cider vinegar may not be a cure all, but, (dare we say it?) it is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Dec/Jan Solar Pro Magazine Arrived Today

We just received our shipment of the December/January 2013 issue of SolarPro magazine. This magazine is one of the main publications in the solar industry.

The magazine comes out every couple of months and has articles on new technologies, new laws and what's been happening the world of solar and photovoltaics.


SolarPro Magazine



Sure, interviews with members of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection may not sound like an exciting read to a lot of people, but if you're in the industry, it's good to keep up with what's going on.

That's why Community Business College does things like handing out free magazines and subscriptions to its students and graduates.

One of the most important things we teach in all of our classes at Community Business College is to practice lifelong learning. There's always more to learn in an industry because, now more than ever, there are technological and procedural advances in every aspect of work. From solar panel installation rules to new ICD-10 coding for medical billing and coding to updated Microsoft Office software, those who don't keep up will be left behind.

If you're interested in receiving a free copy of the latest issue of SolarPro magazine, stop by the school's admission office and just ask for one at the front desk.

As you may have read on the Community Business College Twitter feed, we had another examinee pass the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Expert exam yesterday. The goal of the certification is to provide people a chance to show others (e.g. current bosses, prospective employers, patronizing computer-savvy high school children) that they know their stuff. It’s been a way for employees to differentiate themselves in competitive job markets and broaden employment opportunities by displaying advanced skills.




Why Excel Certification?

The Microsoft Excel certification is part of the set of Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications that is offered by Microsoft. Community Business College instructors have certifications but they’re not just designed for the academic community.

Microsoft Office Specialist certification can also lead to increased job satisfaction. Research (conducted by Microsoft, of course) indicates that certified individuals have increased competence, productivity, and credibility.

For employers who are looking for specialized computer skills, Microsoft Office Specialist certification provides skill-verification tools that help assess a person's skills in using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program. It’s also nice to have an official-looking certificate with the Microsoft logo to hang on your wall. The boss might tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing, but you can point to it and say that Bill Gates’ Microsoft says you know what you’re doing.


Excel has come a long way…

The days of VisiCalc are gone, of course. For the uninitiated in personal computing lore, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program for home computers. It was also the first “Killer App” - a good reason to pay a thousand bucks (or more) for a box that nobody else in the house seemed to think had much potential. There was really no practical need for a home computer – word processors could do your word processing and typewriters were getting pretty sophisticated. Games could be done cheaper on game consoles and sometime the graphics were a LOT better. The Internet was still just a twinkling in DARPA’s electronic eye.


Surprisingly, it wasn’t word processing but spreadsheet software that made the whole home computer revolution possible. There was nothing else that could do spreadsheets like a personal computer. And so the worksheet became the face that launched a thousand-thousand PCs.



Since those days filled with simplistic dreams of what spreadsheets were for, though, they have come a long way. From PacMan games programmed in Excel to “extreme couponer” organizers to “million-dollar idea” business plan templates, Excel has shown its versatility. The program has become so specialized that it’s official certification exams have been broken into two tiers.

“Core” Excel Versus “Expert” Excel

The Microsoft Office Specialist exams come in two versions – Core and Expert. Core covers the basics of spreadsheet layouts and is designed for regular users to get certification. The expert exam gets more advanced, obviously.

For most people who come to Community Business College, the core exam is what they’re looking for. Learning Microsoft Excel is not difficult but as someone once said, “it takes a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.” When first learning Excel, it’s also a good time to put your hours of game time to good use, especially if you’ve played Battleship. Battleship, by the way, is an excellent way to understand the coordinate reference system Excel uses. At Community Business College, we’ve seen Excel students who have played Battleship and those who haven’t (yes, it’s true, some people have never played Battleship). Those with the “Battleship background” pick up on how Excel functions a lot faster than those who don’t.


The core exam is the exam that covers the fundamental and most common uses of Excel, such as:

· Formatting Cells and Worksheets

· Creating Cell Data

· Cell Functions

· Changing Worksheets in a Workbook

(By the way, Community Business College offers some free materials if you’re interested in taking the exam, just ask us for a copy of the Microsoft Excel study guide).

If, however, people want to prove they are true Excel aficionados, test takers will tackle the expert level. Expert exam certifications demonstrate proficiency in the more advanced Excel features and uses.

The other advantage of buying a Microsoft Excel expert voucher (they cost the same as the core voucher), is once you pass the expert level exam, you are on your way to becoming a Microsoft Office Specialist Master. The master certification is an extra certification received after passing all of the following Microsoft Office exams: Excel and the Microsoft Word expert exam and the MOS: PowerPoint exam and MOS: Outlook exam (either the Microsoft Access, OneNote, or SharePoint exams can be substituted for the Microsoft Outlook exam).

We’re glad we had another candidate pass the Microsoft Excel expert exam and is on his way to becoming a Microsoft Office Specialist Master. By the way, the way he passed it was he purchased the MOS exam voucher with retake. We strongly encourage test takers to do this because, although the voucher with retake is initially a bit more expensive than just the single voucher, it can save money in the long run because it gives you two shots at passing the exam without having to pay full price for each exam. This can save you money in the end, especially for examinees who have never taken one of these interactive exams before.

Once again, congratulations to our newly minted Microsoft Excel expert and good luck to all those in the future who plan to take the exam!

Did you realize that November is a national blog month?
Someone has determined that November 2012 shall be a "National Blog Posting Month" (or NaBlPoMo) for short. There's even a logo to make it official:



National Blog Posting Month logo

 Writing is an exercise we teach at Community Business College. Good writing is good for the reader and it's good for the writer.

Like any skill, writing takes practice of course. Creative writing takes even more practice and finding the right guidance is important. But is it worth the effort?
For most people, the answer is "yes." From blogging to writing and publishing e-books, today there are more outlets for budding writers than ever. It just takes some time and effort. Many non-writers are finding they can become published writers with just a little hard work.  Read this article for an example of the value of writing during NaBlPoMo.

Modesto Has Its Arch Back

Friday, the City of Modesto's arch downtown came back to life with the flick of a switch
This was made possible by a fund raiser in difficult times. They had to replace the paint and the old bulbs with new, energy-efficient LED bulbs. It looks brighter and better than ever. It should be good for at least another 100 years.
To raise money, they sold chocolate "Arch Bars" which were produced by Modesto company Speckles Chocolates and were a nice touch. The chocolate was actually imprinted with the shape of the arch. They placed "golden tickets" ala Willy Wonka for a chance to win prizes and the grand prize - the flipping of the switch that relit Modesto's downtown arch.

It's a good reminder of the good people in Modesto which makes it a good place to live.
There's now a time capsule placed in the arch and they are planning on other additions as time goes on.
The committee in charge of restoring the arch still has bulbs they've put into a case that can be bought as a momento.
All in all, a good project and a show of a little civic pride.

Is Tetris Good For The Mind?

During the student meeting today, one of the Community Business College adult students made the case that Tetris is good for the brain. Some people will lump Tetris in with all video games and say that it doesn't do much good but the question here is - can the game improve your mind?

This student grew up in the 80's when Tetris was big and freshly imported from the old Soviet Union. It quickly caught on and can be found on many all-time favorite video game lists. But since that time there have been so many video games available, its popularity has settled down.

That's not to say that Tetris hasn't made a huge impact in the culture. From video game consoles, to Halloween costumes and even videos of human Tetris, it's not hard to find Tetris references. But is it really a mental exercise?

Tetris Screen Shot- Somebody Needs More Practice

For those not in the know, the game is played with shapes of four squares stuck together. They're called "tetrominoes," or in the game, "tetriminos" as opposed to two-square "dominoes." The pieces drop one at a time down the matrix  with the player able to rotate the pieces 90 degrees at a time and slide them from side to side. The object of the game is to fit the pieces together without any gaps. When a horizontal line is filled in with no gaps, it disappears, making room for more pieces to fall and scoring the player some points. The second object of the game is to keep making those lines disappear because if the whole matrix fills up with game pieces, the game ends.
As the player "beats" each level by using up the game pieces, the following level drops them faster and, thus, increases the challenge.

But Can It Change Your Brain?
Of course, this is of interest to us at Community Business College because we are all about training brains. But can Tetris make a difference in your brain? After doing a little research, some (including our stalwart student today) seem to think so.

Researchers Dr. Richard Haier, Richard J Haier, Sherif Karama, Leonard Leyba and Rex E Jung found in 2009 that when a person first starts playing Tetris, brain function and overall activity increases, and the brain's metabolism increases along with the consumption of blood glucose. This means playing the game really gets the brain going.

As players of the game get better at it, their brain metabolisms showed improved efficiency.  Even moderate playing of Tetris (half-an-hour a day for three months) seemed to boost general cognitive functions such as "critical thinking, reasoning, language and processing" and increasing the thickness of the players' "grey matter."

There's even a syndrome called The Tetris Effect for those who overdo it and play the game so much that they start seeing common everyday objects as Tetris game pieces. So, walking down the street and looking at the skyline of a bunch of city buildings triggers the mind to involuntarily imagine how those shapes might fit together as if they were Tetris objects on the game board.

So maybe there's something to this.  Most people probably don't play the game excessively and develop a syndrome but Tetris seems to definitely make some changes in the brain.

Kudos to our student for making the case that games are not always just fun but can be beneficial to our minds, too. Plus it takes your mind off of the troubles of the day.

"Publish and Sell Your E-Book" Class Starts at Community Business College

Community Business College is now offering a new class teaching students how to create, publish and sell their own e-books.

Students in the "Publish and Sell Your E-Books" course learn how to access tools to publish and sell e-books in the world's largest online bookstores. Many of these e-publishing tools are available free of charge. Students learn to utilize these tools to turn manuscripts into competently published e-books. Course participants also learn how to target an audience, select bookstores, and get their books distributed around the world via the World Wide Web. The goal is to provide students an an opportunity to get into a new technology while it is just starting to develop. E-publishing will always be a significant way people get their information in the future and now is an excellent time to get started.

Why E-books?


E-books are making a huge impact in the publishing world, with thousands of previously undiscovered authors as the bright glowing lights in its tail. Independent ("indie") authors are becoming overnight sensations in the newspapers and on Amazon.com.

There is a vast difference between paper books and e-books. With their ease of production and distribution, there's more news coming out every day showing that e-books now outsell traditionally published books around the world. This is great news for authors, who no longer need a large budget to self-publish and promote their books.

Publishing an e-book and selling it can be an excellent way for people who are struggling in difficult economic times to supplement their income. Depending on the type of e-book and the amount of time put into marketing, authors can make part-time to full-time pay from their works.

Community Business College's Lifelong Learning Classes 

The “Publish and Sell Your E-Books” is part of the non-credit skills enrichment courses offered by Community Business College to supplement its students education and to nourish an enjoyment of lifelong learning.

The classes are designed to be informative and enjoyable.
New classes start every month. Many are entirely Web-based with comprehensive lessons, quizzes, and assignments. A dedicated professional instructor facilitates every course; pacing learners, answering questions, giving feedback, and facilitating discussions. Online instructors have special relationships with their students. A Penn State World Campus instructor has said that sometimes what students learn from online courses goes beyond the subject matter.


One advantage of taking an online course is it reinforces good time management skills and organizational skills. "Anything in life worth doing is worth doing well, and anything worth doing is worth scheduling," Turgeon has been quoted as saying. Students learn to discipline themselves, develop problem solving skills, and how to schedule and prioritize time

To learn more, contact the Community Business College admissions office at (209) 529-3648 or visit the school’s website at http://www.cbcwebcollege.com/ebook.htm