Author: dsqubain

People who use bicycles as their transport medium instead of cars are benefitting themselves significantly. Not only will their physical health be maintained, but also they will get to explore the world around them and take a break from the real busy world by escaping it for a few minutes. Most people choose cycling over driving because buying a bike is cheaper than buying a car and riding a bike to places will actually allow you to reach your destination on time since there would not be any sort of traffic jams. Cyclists have all these advantages over drivers and back home no one ever goes to their work or place of destination on a bike. When I moved to San Francisco I realized that a considerable number of people do cycle to their place of destination while in Jordan, people do not even consider it. That is why, I am interested in finding out more about why people back home, in Amman, Jordan prefer driving over cycling.
My plan to gather all this information is to carry out a survey. This survey will consist of several questions ranging from multiple choice questions to short open-ended questions. I will make sure to keep the survey short, concise and straight to the point so as not to receive any biased answers just in case the person being surveyed felt bored. I will upload the survey on a website and send it to all my friends back home who have a car and ask them to fill it out. In this way, I will get to receive enough statistical data and information as to why people back home prefer driving over cycling and come up with a satisfying conclusion.

In the article “I’m in a hurry… to slow down”, Chris Carlsson mentions how he has been riding his bicycle for the past 40 years of his life. He chose to cycle because he’s an impatient person who cannot really stand traffic and this allowed him to notice all the changes that occurred in the city over specific time periods since he can actually explore the world around him while cycling. The evolution of technology lead to the appearance of more cars on the streets and accordingly more parking lots and space for cars. This left a much narrower place for cyclists to cycle and people walking by to explore the view and the wonderful nature around them. People also lost touch with one another and became more involved with the idea of technology and communicating with each other only on social networking websites. As a result, people are now going through the same routines each and every day; they wake up, work, eat and then sleep for few hours. Not only are the streets getting overcrowded and much less space is now available for all the shops and outlets, most people are becoming obsessed with money and tend to value time more than anything.
In another article “The third transportation revolution”, John Zimmer also mentions how we live in a world that is only surrounded by cars and how we are not making use of all the available space. He however, provides a solution for all this free space; he came up with the idea of “Lyft”. Lyft is the new group or application in which Zimmer plans to have autonomous vehicles that do not involve any private owned cars rather rented cars that are run by drivers who are tracked. With the evolution of technology, people can request cars easily on the Lyft app from their smartphones and they pay the drivers money depending on where they want to head or the miles it takes them to arrive at their destination. This idea of Zimmer will actually reduce the large amounts of useless space and can actually use it in an effective manner.
Both Carlsson and Zimmer are in a way addressing the same issue of space and how our society is currently surrounded by cars and by everything that has to do with cars such as parking lots. They also care about the society as a whole, how we view the world and mentioned how technology in general developed over time and people have based their lives based on it. Carlsson, explained the idea and his own beliefs without mentioning any type of solutions while Zimmer came up with the idea of Lyft that in itself has the potential to make things better and eliminate some of the useless space. I personally think that Zimmer’s solution could be the start of something big and has the potential to change some of the disadvantages in the city like getting rid of traffic.

As for my spatial observation expedition, I chose to visit the California Tennis Club and watch the final tennis battle between USF and the University of Arizona. From where I stood and started cheering for the players, there were four tennis courts. They were playing both singles and doubles against each other. I watched only one game which lasted for about an hour and a half. It was between two girls from the USF team and two other girls from the Arizona. Speakers were scattered all around the area where I was sitting and the judge who was monitoring the players’ performance, kept on describing what was happening in the game. I also heard the sound of the racket moving through the air as the girls shot the ball. The sound in general took a considerable amount of space. There were also people cheering for the teams sitting at the benches near the court which also took up most of the space. Booths were present at every corner, either promoting a certain cause or distributing flyers about the upcoming tournaments. And all the empty space at the tennis club was covered with grass and beautiful pink flowers. The tennis club is a mile away from the USF campus so some of my friends cycled to the club while others took the muni bus. The coaches, however, used their cars and parked them in the small parking lot at the club.

Since I was a little kid, I wanted to become a lawyer in the future. I had this weird obsession over law in general and I used to debate all the time with people and watch live debates all the time. My dad, however, told me that in order to become a lawyer, one must possess specific qualities especially public speaking skills. He did not really believe that I could handle speaking in front of the public eye without backing out. So we finally made a deal. He told me that he will give me the opportunity to experience the life of a lawyer alone without anyone’s support and abroad. If I was capable of handling that experience, he will support me every step of the way.

During summer of 2015, I joined a mock trial program at UCLA. I had to travel to the US all by myself as part of our deal and try to be as responsible as I ever could. I did not want to ruin such an opportunity and I wanted to make my parents feel proud of me. This was my only chance to prove to both of them that I can actually speak in public and that a lawyer is who I really want to become. This program basically allows students to experience the life of a lawyer by solving cases and debating at real court places with real judges. Therefore, I wanted to make the best out of it for the sake of my parents and to assure myself that a law degree is what I really want to pursue.

The mock trial was a bit of a challenge at first because it all seemed so inquisitive to me. The program lasted for about a week or so, my teammates and I had two real cases to work on. We worked on them for almost 10 hours each day and we basically lived with each other. We became closer and closer as each second passed by, and helped each other with every step of the way. My professor took me to the Los Angeles Superior court where I had the honor of watching three real cases. Being an attorney for two witnesses during the mock trial, I stood in front of the judge with confidence and determination to win the case. The judge of fifty years’ experience and my professor commended my cross examination and encouraged me to pursue law as my future profession. Thus my parents saw me perform on skype, and felt so proud. The mock trial program thus far is considered to be one of my favorite public speaking experiences.

1) Introduce yourself to the audience and introduce your main topic
 Introduce your name, age, origin and an interesting fact about you or a situation that you once encountered in your life. In this way, the audience will feel that they know you and will be interested to hear you.
 Start off with a brief summary about your topic and end with phrases that will bring a sense of excitement to the audience, making them want to hear you and listen to what you have to say.
2) Make the topic seem interesting and unique because if the presentation appeared to be interesting at first, the audience will be all ears and eager to listen to your presentation.
3) Dig deep into the topic and show the audience that you know the topic by heart. Show them how credible you are by mentioning all resources used and you can also use phrases said by known credible people. Engage the audience especially if your presentation is too long.
4) Recap or conclude by mentioning the moral of the presentation because the audience usually tend to remember the beginning of the presentation and its ending the most.

At first, I was actually nervous to present in front of the whole class, especially since they are all new classmates. As soon as I entered the class, I saw how nervous everyone appeared to be so I felt totally normal. This was our first graded assignment and we all wanted to achieve the same goal; get a very high mark. Our professor suggested that we all do some sort of exercises in order to feel calmer. After about 10 minutes or so, it was time to present. I got so excited and wanted to present and tell my experience to my classmates. While presenting, I felt so confident and was not worried at all. However, I felt that I needed to make my content more focused on the readings we took rather than my personal experience.

When I first wanted to join a cycling team and become more of a “sports person”, I started asking some of my friends and family members about where to go and what the best thing to do is. Most of them suggested “The Bike Rush Team”. This team mainly consists of a group of professional cyclists who share their experiences with people who join their team and allow them to explore the world around them. I did a research about them to know more about what I am participating in and to figure out whether this team or organization appears to be as credible as people say they are or not. I opened their official site and even their facebook page, skimmed through them and yet did not feel satisfied with the information that is already out in the open. I felt the need to go to their place of operation and meet up with at least one of the of the organizers. I went there on a Monday afternoon, full of energy and many thoughts and ideas were wandering in my head. I got there at almost 1:00 pm and all the people who work there were so welcoming and helpful. They took to me to the person who came up with this whole idea. I entered his office and started introducing myself and told him about the reason behind me showing up. To my surprise, as soon as I told him the reason, he got so excited and told me to ask him whatever I want. The conversation mainly went like this:
Dina: What made you want to create a team just for cycling?
Rami: My parents could not afford buying me a car so since I was a little kid, I used to ride my bicycle everywhere. At first, I used to complain all the time but then I developed a passion for cycling. This passion made me love life more and explore all the nature around me in a vivid way. I felt the need to share this wonderful experience with others and make them more aware of what’s around them.
Dina: I want you to give me a reason that will actually make me want to join Bike Rush rather than all the other cycling teams currently operating.
Rami: At the end of the day, you get to decide what you want. Personally, as the organizer, I know what I am doing and I even think twice before doing anything. I love my work and I am good at it. I even distribute questionnaires at the end of every ride to be able to know my customers at a personal level and make sure to satisfy all their wants and needs to make them come back again.
People in general tend to have different reactions towards certain things. For example, some people joined the Bike rush team without even knowing who runs it, while, I, on the other hand did some research and even went to the office itself to talk with the organizers. Referring to Horner’s short chapter, I related to it in many ways. I asked people about the team before even considering it in order to receive primary or firsthand information that would not be as biased as it is on their official websites. Most people said good things about the team, the service they provide and all the good deals they offer. So according to the three concepts of credibility, goodwill was definitely achieved in my case.

Attached is a video of myself introducing myself and talking more about my public speaking experiences…. only for 55 seconds though

Hope you enjoy it!!