Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 Wrap Up...Bring on 2010!!

Good Afternoon everyone! It has been a snowy last day for 2009, but hopefully it will clear up by tonight! It's hard to believe that another year has passed, and for that matter, another decade! It's time to clear our plates and begin a brandy new year! I know I am looking forward to that! 2009 was a successful year, but of course as always, we all hit some bumps in the road! Out with the old, and in with the new!

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As for Berkeley, I have successfully accomplished all of my goals I set out to reach in school, so I am very thankful for that. I am looking forward to having another successful year as well and striving to keep my good grades up.

Now as for 2009 all together, it was a great year! In February, I began blogging for Berkeley and it has been a great experience for me. It's very nice to interact with all of my classmates and individuals who are looking to get a feel for what Berkeley College is like. I also had to opportunity to interview with the Star Ledger about my blogging position, which was a great experience. I really feel that this gives me the opportunity to share my experiences with everyone and give some helpful tips along the way that can lead to a successful college experience. I am thankful I have been able to communicate with all of you and look forward to continuing this in 2010.

We will officially be starting our new quarter next Monday, so make sure you enjoy these next couple of days that are left to our vacation! Also, strive to make sure you keep up with your good grades and being successful in 2010!

Tonight I will be bringing in the new year with my best friend and my family! I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year with lots of success, happiness, and health! "See you next year!!!!"
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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Holiday Wrap up!

Christmas has come and gone just like that! Hard to believe that next week begins 2010! At work I have to send out these payment notices and put the due date on them so I have already been typing 2010 and let me tell you, I keep wanting to put 010 not 10. It's just so weird since I am so use to putting a 0 before the number. Anyways, besides my little rant there, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed their family time.

I had a terrific Christmas this year and I am now a proud owner of a Nintendo Wii, so you can only guess that I was glued to my tv for most of this weekend so far. I ended up getting four games with it, such as the Mario Bros, Wii Resort, Wii Fit (which let me tell you is by far the coolest thing ever) and GT Pro Racing. As you can see I have plenty to keep me busy! Other than that, I got some clothes and things that will be helpful when we start up with school in a week. Lots to look forward to.

I did start receiving some of my books for next quarter which is good so this way I will be ready to roll when Tuesday approaches. Don't be confused, classes do start on Monday, but I am only taking Tuesday/Thursday classes so I really start on Tuesday! I also submitted some books to a buyback company to get some money back which will go towards paying off those other books I recently purchased. It was a win-win situation and I am actually making a few extra dollars from it!

During the week I am probably going to post a 2009 Wrap up and get ready to welcome in 2010. A lot has happened over 2009, both good and bad, but now we can all clear our plates and begin a fresh new year! Sounds pretty good to me! Enjoy your day and I will catch up with everyone during the week!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Tis the Season!!

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3 more days till Christmas! That is so hard to believe but it is here! I actually was brave and ventured out today with my mom to the mall, which surprisingly was not mobbed with people. All the other times I go to the mall a few days away from Christmas, it is packed! Luckily, it wasn't so bad and we were able to get what we needed and get out of there!

I hope everyone got their shopping done and is all ready for Christmas!! How is everyone's vacation going? It is such a relief to be able to relax and not have to worry about assignments that's for sure!

I wish I had much more to talk about but it's vacation so not much at all is going on! I do have a reminder though for everyone! Our bills for the Winter Quarter need to be paid by December 30th at 1PM! I did receive an email about paying mine and they added that we can pay them online by accessing Self Service. Of course, you can also visit the Student Accounts office and take care of it there if that is easier and more convenient for you.

Also, as mentioned previously, start looking into books for next quarter! I ordered most of my books from Amazon and they are in great shape for a very reasonable price, so happy book hunting!!

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your family and friends!!!

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Winter Vacation

We have finally reached our well deserved vacation! By now I hope everyone has finished with their finals or will be done by tomorrow! So far my grades have started to come through and now I am awaiting on one class! I have my fingers crossed!

I got a head start on purchasing books for next quarter and also started my process for doing a book buyback through a site known as ABEbooks.com. If you have any books you are trying to sell back, check out their rates and see if you are happy with them. I am getting back a decent amount which will go towards my new books and will also have some extra dollars left over, which is always good. If you are doing the book buyback through Berkeley, make sure you bring them tomorrow because that will be the last day!!

There really isn't much going on besides the Holidays approaching and all the last minute shopping! Christmas is only 9 days away! I still am having a hard time believing that, but I better start believing right?!

Now is the best time to get out in your car with you family and drive around to look at all of the Christmas lights. I just found this pretty cool video on Yahoo about a man who decorated his house to a guitar hero theme! Check it out!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/losangelescbs2-15750780/man-creates-31-000-bulb-guitar-hero-display-17149968

I hope everyone enjoys their vacation and I will pop in during the week to catch up on how my relaxation is going! Till then ENJOY! :)

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Z100's Jingle Ball=AMAZING!

What a great night and a great show, that is for sure! My luck, it was the coldest night ever, about 19 degrees, but luckily it wasn't so bad! I was a little nervous upon arriving at the Garden because I thought it was going to be mobbed with people, but I got right in line for will call and within 10 minutes I had my tickets and was at the front of the line to go to my seats. My friend and I contemplated on getting on line, but it worked out for the better since we were able to get right in and to our seats. Here are some pictures to share with everyone!!



The weekend is coming to an end and I haven't been feeling so great so it's a big bummer. We are finally at week 12, which is hard to believe! It's also hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner. For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah to you!

This is the official final week, so I hope everyone is all studied up and ready for their exams! I have one last test to take for one of my online classes and then I am officially done. I am actually thinking of doing that tonight since it's due tomorrow and my luck blackboard will be down tomorrow or something unexpected will happen. Good luck to everyone and if you are already done with finals, enjoy your time off!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

What is that mysterious spiral in the sky?

A UFO? Many people seem to assume that anything weird that appears in the sky could be linked to UFO's, but hey you never know! This bizarre story was breaking news on Yahoo! this morning, where they were unsure as to what this mysterious spiral could be. I was at work and we were watching the video clips about it and it was extremely weird but cool at the same time! They had ruled out the link to meteors, which was my first guess as well, but then I thought how would that create a spiral? Anything is possible at this point, right?

After a few hours, I logged back on Yahoo! to check my email, and there was an updated story about this occurrence. It turns out that it as a missile failure from Russia. Another failure was not something to be so surprised about, since this has occurred already,but of course people went crazy about the possibility of a UFO. One day it could happen, so it's good to stay alert!!!

I want to share the video with everyone and then the rest of the story about the missile failure just so everyone has the clear idea of what really went on with this mysterious spiral! Here is the video:



Crazy!!! Ok, so here is the full story about what happened!

From Yahoo!

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia's new nuclear-capable missile suffered another failed test launch, the defence ministry said Thursday, solving the mystery of a spectacular plume of white light that appeared over Norway.

The Bulava missile was test-fired from the submarine Dmitry Donskoi in the White Sea early Wednesday but failed at the third stage, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The pre-dawn morning launch coincided with the appearance of an extraordinary light over northern Norway that captivated observers.

Images of the light that appeared in the sky above the Norwegian city of Tromso and elsewhere prompted explanations ranging from a meteor, northern lights, a failed missile or even a UFO.

Describing the latest failure of the Bulava as a major embarrassment for the military, leading Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the images were consistent with a missile failure.

"Such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before," he told AFP.

"At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians," he joked.

The White Sea, which is the usual site for such missile tests by Russian submarines, lies close to Norway's own Arctic region.

This was the 12th test launch of the Bulava and the seventh time the firing has ended in failure, the Interfax news agency said.

The submarine-launched missile is central to Russia's plan to revamp its ageing weapons arsenal but is beset by development problems.

"The first two stages of the rocket worked but in the final and third stage there was a technical failure," the defence ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the problem was with the engine in the third stage, while in past launches the first stage had been faulty.

The problems with the Bulava have become an agonising issue for the defence ministry, which has ploughed a large proportion of its procurement budget into ensuring the missile becomes the key element of its rocket forces.

The previous failure in July forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is responsible for developing the missile.

Felgenhauer said that it had dealt a serious blow to Russia's bid to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent.

"By the year 2030, Russia could lose its position as a global nuclear power if the problems are not solved. And it could be that these missiles will never fly properly.

"The Russian defence industry has disintegrated to such an extent that it simply cannot make such a complicated system work. Technology and expertise have been lost," he said.

The problems are also a major political embarrassment, coming as Russia negotiates with the United States the parameters of a new arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 START accord.

The treaty expired on December 5, and despite intense negotiations the two sides have yet to agree the text of a new deal.

In a separate development, a successful test-firing took place of Russia's intercontinental surface-to-surface ballistic missile Topol RS-12M, news agencies quoted a statement from the strategic rocket forces as saying.

The missile -- introduced to the rocket forces before the fall of the Soviet Union -- was fired from the southern Russian region of Astrakhan and hit its target at a testing range in neighbouring Kazakhstan.

The Bulava, which can be equipped with up to 10 individually targeted nuclear warheads, has a maximum range of 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles).

It is the sea-based version of the Topol-M, Russia's new surface-to-surface intercontinental missile, and designed to be launched from Moscow's newest Borei class of submarines.

Defence analysts say that a further headache for the military is that the new submarines are designed to be compatible with Bulava and if the new missile fails to work the vessels will be virtually useless.

So what is everyone thoughts about this?! It is definitely wild!!

Besides that, finals week! I want to wish everyone the best of luck and then it's finally time to relax! Tomorrow I go to Jingle Ball, so be expecting some photos over the weekend!! I am really excited! I'm sure its going to be packed, and good thing its going to be like 25 tomorrow! BRRRRR! I am going to freeze! Well GOOD LUCK! and keep warm!!!

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Monday, December 7, 2009

Happy Monday!

The snow has arrived and it definitely feels a lot like winter now, not to mention the fact that my neighborhood looks like a winter wonderland! It's so pretty when it first falls, but then of course the snow plows come and kick up the dirt and it just looks ugly! I was able to snap some pictures though to share as I promised!




As for today, I really got myself into the Christmas spirit and decorated at work. I put up our tree, made some really cool 3D snowflakes, and put some decorations on the windows! It gave me something to do and it was definitely a lot of fun!

Here is what the snowflakes came out to look like. I just made this one with Christmas colors to switch it up, but the ones at work are white.

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Anyways, I got a little head start today on finding out some information for the books I will need next quarter! I like to shop around to find good prices since books cost an arm and a leg now a days. I simply emailed the bookstore and asked for the ISBN #'s of the books I need for my courses, and someone got back to me! (Thanks to Jason at the GMT campus bookstore!) I compared some prices so I have an idea where I want to order books from. I also went on to see how much I can sell my books back for. Of course you can never get back what you paid, but the little bit you can, definitely helps! So after next week, vacation begins, which is why I'm looking into books now, so during vacation, I can get school off my mind and enjoy my freedom!

Jingle Ball is on Friday, so to the city I will be going! I am really looking forward to this, I just hope my randomly picked seats are good ones! *Crossing my fingers on this one* I also heard that the first 200 people that get there and have a 16 oz. coke bottle with them, will be entered into a ZVIP lounge and will be able to meet the stars! How cool would that be! And yes, I will totally be buying a bottle of coke on Friday and getting my butt there!

I hope everyone enjoys their week! Remember, just one more week! Push through it!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Computer is back up and running!

Finally back on track! Computer problems are solved and now I am working with Windows 7! So far I am totally loving it!

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Today was quite interesting! Lots and lots of snow in my area! My mom and I started to put up our Christmas lights, but couldn't really do much since everything was snow covered in no time! I will have to put pictures up of this winter wonderland tomorrow. It's so pretty when the snow first falls and then it just gets ugly from all the dirt and such. My area was only expecting 1-3 inches of snow, but we got way more than that. It's heavy snow too so the snow blower has to put up a fight.

As for some school talk, we are approaching week 11. My macroeconomics teacher actually just assigned two last assignments, which is a scary thought, but also a good one, because that means vacation is well on it's way! It's been another successful quarter so no complaining over here!

I did find something interesting that I wanted to bring up in my blog tonight and that is the FTC and what they are doing to make consumers aware of products and services that could actually do harm. My discussion board this week in advertising was to visit the FTC website (www.ftc.gov) and give a brief summary of a current consumer issue. There are many there and lots of interesting ones that I came across. For my post, I chose this:

FTC Charges Marketers with Making Baseless Weight-Loss Claims Despite Order to Stop
I found this article in regards to two weight loss programs, Relacore and Akävar 20/50, that make claims that people can still eat what they want by following these plans and still lose weight, as well as making claims that if it wasn't true, they wouldn't have printed it on their products. These programs have violated the 2006 FTC order, barring them from making health or weight-loss claims without a reasonable basis. Due to this, the Commission is seeking to stop the defendants from making such claims and make them pay civil penalties for these actions.

These companies know that people will believe these claims so of course they go out and make it a point to purchase these programs. It's very wrong to do, so I am happy that the FTC is acting and making they pay civil penalties for making unreasonable claims.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/11/basicresearch.shtm

Many of us have seen these types of weight loss products making such claims, but marketers know there is a great amount of people who will fall for it. I am glad that the FTC is making them pay back money for making such claims. It's kind of a no brainer, but there are people out there who will believe everything they see and hear without any questions. Other students in my class chose ones about credit card scams, ID theft, and free trials. The trial scams are very interesting. I'm sure everyone has heard of the Acai Berry detox that all you pay is 99 cents and they will send you a trial of the product. Well it turns out that when you give over all your information, they enroll you in their monthly program which is placed somewhere in their long agreement which can easily be over passed since no body ever wants to read those big long rules. It's in the fine print, so when you get that bill and try to fight it, they just come back at you saying that you should have read the agreement. I actually was watching Rachel Ray and she had this on her show telling everyone to go on and try it. Well I went on and I didn't finish filling out the information, so I had these people calling my house looking for my other information, so my mom saved my butt and said I was only 16 and shouldn't even be trying to get my hands on that stuff.

After that, they stopped calling, but it's such a big scam and so unfair. It just comes to show that people need to be more careful with the products or services they get involved with.

Does anyone have any stories about weight loss programs, or free trials that ended up enrolling you in their monthly programs?

These types of things are happening to people everyday, so my advice is just to be on the lookout for these types of scammers. They are EVERYWHERE!

Stay warm and enjoy the rest of your weekend! I will be sure to post some snow pictures and Christmas light pictures! :)

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

December has arrived!



Yes, very hard to believe but here we are! The last few days of the decade, and then 2010 begins a whole new decade! I can't believe how fast this year has gone, so it's almost time for a yearly wrap up! Of course, as like every other year, it has it's ups and downs, but each year we clear the plate and start over once again. I am definitely looking forward to starting fresh once again!

So yesterday I ended up doing most of my Christmas shopping so that I can finish up and prepare for the big day! I did wrap most of the things today just to get them over and done with. Tomorrow or Friday I will be going for my tree, which is even more exciting! I will post pictures of that as well once I get it up!

I am pretty excited! Next Friday I go to Z100's Jingle Ball concert! I can't wait!! So there is lots to look forward to.

I am also looking forward to the end of this quarter, not that it's been awful, but its time to just relax and enjoy the holidays for as long as possible! I know 2 weeks is definitely not much, but it will just be so enjoyable.

Once again I am back to using my laptop since my computer decided it didn't want to work anymore and give me a pretty nasty virus. On the better side of this story, I now get to put Windows 7 on my computer! My brother kept telling me, let's put it on, but I refused until I finished my advertising project, which I still need to post the picture to show everyone! Once I get all my stuff back on my computer and familiar with Windows 7, it will be up for show! I think viruses find me, because honestly, I don't go on any weird sites, so I really don't get it. It's pretty funny too because the other day I had just said to my brother that my computer hasn't given me any problems and actually knocked on wood, but clearly that didn't help. Next time I'll be knocking on my head.

I hope everyone is off to having a great week! I will keep everyone posted with my computer success!!!