Diet

My girlfriend left for vacation for three weeks so I will spend a lot of time with my friends in the next few weeks. I am still on my break until January 4th, which feels pretty good. I have been doing some shopping lately.

I bought speakers from Amazon, a new power adapter for my exercise bike since my cat broke the last one, and I also purchased some items at IKEA. I actually went to IKEA because I wanted to by a framed poster.

On my way to the picture department, I picked up a few things including chair pads, a dish brush, and a carpet. I noticed how huge the painting was when I arrived at the picture department so I decided to avoid buying it for this time.

I think I will go back later to buy it though because I am tired of the white walls in my apartment. IKEA is currently having a sale, which is pretty rare actually so it is a good opportunity for students to make a few satisfying deals.

I am on a four week diet plan right now. I am trying to get used to eating less and healthier and I am doing great so far. I really hope that my power adapter will show up soon so that I can start exercising because that will greatly help me to lose weight.

I have been walking a lot in the city lately since it gives me good exercise. I bought a shirt at Century 21 today but it is too long so I will have to return it. I will not go to Century 21 in Manhattan anymore. The reason is that they do not have any fitting rooms and it is way too crowded with confusing tourists.

There is one in Brooklyn that I really like and I think I will go there on the day after tomorrow. I will celebrate New Year’s Eve tomorrow with two friends. We are going to watch Avatar in an IMAX theatre before celebrating at my friend’s home. Avatar has gotten great reviews but I am not sure it is my kind of movie. However, I do have hopes that I will like it much because it is in 3D.

I am not sure of what we will do in the evening but I do know that it includes Korean food and great people. I feel good about not going to Times Square this time. It gets way too crowded and the weather is usually extremely chilly on New Year’s Eve.

I received a few gifts from my mom and brother this week. I got Swedish chocolate, which I really like. Unfortunately, I will not be able to eat it for a month because of my diet. However that is also a good reason for me to share it with my girlfriend.

Dominos

The sales continue although many were expecting the sales to end after Christmas. Amazon has a huge sale today and I bought a pair of speakers because of it. I was going to buy these speakers from Apple because they offered the same price and free shipping. However, with today’s sale at Amazon, I saved almost 40%.

The snow has slowly started to melt away. It rained today but there is still a lot of snow left on the ground, which I like. New York is expecting more rain later this weekend but it will snow again early next week. I hope the temperature will stay cold so that we do not get too much slush.

Since I had Christmas dinner with my girlfriend yesterday, we did not have much to eat for today. Most restaurants were closed today too but Domino’s was luckily not closed. I ordered online and they showed up about thirty minutes later with two medium sized pizzas. It tasted great and I am happy that they are always open.

I have been planning to travel to Philadelphia. It only takes two hours with a bus to go there and only cost $30 for a round-trip ticket. I have driven by Philadelphia before but I have never actually stayed there. I will probably just spend one day there and go back home to New York the same day.

I found a great website that offers old Nintendo games for free. People can play games such as Mario Bros 2, 3, and 3 and Double Dragon etcetera. I am not sure if I am allowed to refer to this website, but people should find it if they Google “Nintendo games for free” or similar.

It feels really good to have a break right now. I am looking forward to start school again though since next quarter will look a little different for me compared to my last quarters. I will be taking sixteen credits as usual but all of them will take place in the evening.

My classes include marketing logistics, new product development, organizational behavior, and business strategy and policy. All of them are requirements for my degree except organizational behavior, which is a free elective. I am expecting business strategy and policy to be very busy so I hope that the other classes will not be too demanding.

I am going to try to buy the books well ahead of time but my professors have not posted the syllabus yet because of Christmas. Some professors do not post the syllabus online at all, which makes it hard for students like me who purchase their books online. I still have another two weeks before the next quarter starts and that feels pretty good to be honest.

Christmas

Christmas is celebrated in Sweden tomorrow on the 24th of December. I might actually celebrate it on that date to since I am used to it and since I am very much in the mood to celebrate Christmas while the snow is still here.

I have bought everything that I need for Christmas including groceries, gifts, and decoration. I will have spareribs, chicken, bread, and many other things on the Christmas table. I am definitely looking forward to it and I really feel that it is not because of the gifts this year.

I am planning to watch Avatar in 3D with a friend soon. Many people say that it is a good movie and I want to see it even though I feel skeptical about it. I do know that James Cameron is a great director though and I love his other movies including Alien and Terminator 2.

I had to go to Century 21 yesterday to buy some ear warmers. I took bus B9 to go there but I had to wait for thirty minutes before it showed up. This really upset me. Later on the same day, I had to go to Kings Plaza, which is a mall here in Brooklyn. Again, I had to take the B9 bus. Again, I waited for thirty minutes. I might have been extremely unlucky that day, but unlucky or not, no one should have to wait that long.

Not only was it freezing outside, but the bus was also packed with people because of the delays. A police officer actually started to talk to me about it and she was also extremely dissatisfied with the service. While all this is happening, the MTA is planning to increase workers’ salaries and decrease the amount of services they provide. This is really upsetting New Yorkers.

I had to pay the school tuition this week. Everything went really smoothly and I was able to increase the spending limit on my credit card so that I could pay with my VISA. The reason I want to do this instead of writing a check is so that I can earn points. These points can later be redeemed for cash or other gifts and is a great way of saving money.

I put three of my textbooks up for sale a few days ago. I successfully sold them for the price that I wanted and I again want to express my gratitude to half.com. I personally feel that this is the best website in terms of selling books. It is extremely easy to use and very reliable.

Someone actually filed a claim against me saying that he had not received his book. This claim came three months after the sale and I also had a confirmation number to strengthen my defense. Half.com basically sent me an email and explained what had happened. I replied and sent them the information that they requested, which proved that I shipped the book and that it was delivered. It is now only of concern to half.com and I do not have to worry about anything anymore.

Online Learning

I am enjoying the Christmas break by relaxing, shopping, and taking walks in the city with my girlfriend. It snowed a lot a few days ago and the city is beautifully covered in white colors. I wanted to post something that I wrote for a project at Berkeley College. I feel that it is relevant since I just finished two online classes.

Albert Einstein ones said, “A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?” A contemporary answer to this question could be “The Internet.” The Internet has changed many habits and it is now also changing the way we learn how to change, through education.

Online learning is growing in significance for each day. It started with a couple of online messaging programs that made conversation and the delivery of instructions possible. It now involves interactive video conferences, active testing of students, and liberal attendance policies that actually leads to greater ways of distributing knowledge.

The cellular phone helped people save time; it encouraged efficiency, and led to increasing national growth. The Internet is a continuation of this. Students do not have to spend hours on commuting to and from school, missing valuable time that could be used to do business. “Benjamin Franklin explained why: “Time is Money.”

Most of today’s students use the Internet regularly and visit website like “Facebook,” “MySpace,” and “Twitter,” on a daily basis. These websites involve communication with others and often entail conflicts. It is now time to bring it to a new level; group discussions for educational purposes. Early research has shown that it is not as easy to communicate with people never interacted with before. This, in itself, is leading to a new issue, manners on the Internet.

These are all factors that make online learning exceedingly exiting. Online learning will change future interactions, lead to even greater efficiency, and may even be part of a new technology that can save this country from future recessions. We are all engaged in it, and now is the time to test-run and challenge this new way of learning.

MTA

I am pretty much done with all assignments and finals for this quarter. One of my online classes has been active for this week but other than that, it has been a moderately calm week. I turned in my final for my managing for change class and I got 98 out of 100 points on it. I actually received 622 out of 575 points total for the class, which seems twisted. However, I received extra credits for a charades event that we had in class, which explains the issue.

I also had to participate in a weekly class discussion online for my marketing research class. It involved nothing particularly important more than questions concerning basic and applied research reports. I wish for another quarter of straight A’s and it looks like I am in a pretty good shape for that to happen.

I will have a two week vacation after today. It will definitely be comfortable to be able to relax for while. I may travel to another state for a few days just to get away from New York, but I have not decided where to go yet.

I will go to a friend’s house tomorrow to enjoy some Korean food. He lives in Queens but on the same train line as me so it will not be too complicated to go there. However, the ride takes more than an hour, which can be pretty agonizing sometimes.

I am taking four evening classes next quarter and I think I will work in the day. The classes I will take are business strategy and policy, marketing logistics, organizational behavior, and new product development. I know two of the professors that I will have. I particularly like one of them but I have not taken any of his classes since my first quarter.

It was 16 degrees outside today. I left home without wearing a scarf or hat so I was freezing on my way to work. I had forgotten how cold New York gets in the winter. It is worth to note, however that I still prefer the winter against the summer.

The MTA is experiencing a budget crisis again. It will affect riders like me because they are planning on closing two lines. They also plan to eliminate the free plan for high school students. This has caused a lot of commotion here in New York. I personally feel that students should pay something but definitely not full price. However, it should be carefully considered, especially since the economy is just coming out from a recession.

The Swedish carmaker SAAB will be terminated. It is owned by General Motors but has long experienced problems. The main issue was simply that they did not sell enough cars. I have, for a long time, felt that they should end the business. In Sweden, this is especially controversial since a certain factory there will have to lay off several people. However, the conditions have been unstable for a very long time so it should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Christmas Photos

I am almost done with my last assignments for this quarter. I need to finish a take-home final for m managing for change class but it is going well so far. I received 50 out of 50 points on my case assignment for the same class and I am certain that I will get an A for the class.

My other on-campus class, small business management is also over. I turned in the final business plan last week and yesterday I went to class just to thank the professor for a good quarter. Not many students actually thank their professors at the end of every quarter. I have done so since my first quarter and I feel that it is important to do so since I spend three months with them.

The class has gone very well and I finally know how to prepare a good business plan. I am certain that I will get an A for this class because the professor told me that I had one of the best business plans in the class.

My two online classes are also coming to an end. My professor in marketing research told me that I was heading for a strong A. This is much thanks to strong test results and a well executed case study. My group dynamics class has also been a success because of great teamwork and a very well written business plan.

Yesterday, I received the shoes that I purchased online from Spring. I am extremely happy with them. They look great and I definitely feel relieved since buying shoes online can be challenging. They also fit perfectly but I need to wear them for a while before I can tell whether they are comfortable or not.

I went out to Manhattan yesterday to take pictures. My girlfriend was going to an event similar to a career fair but for volunteer work so I wanted to take advantage of the situation. We got off at the financial district in Downtown Manhattan.

They have it up the New York Stock Exchange in red and placed a huge Christmas tree in front of the building. It looks terrific and I could feel the Christmas spirit in the air. I also went down to Ground Zero to take a few pictures. There are decorations all over the downtown area and it seems like businesses and the government do not go cheap on the décor even though we are in a recovery.

I am seriously considering buying stamps, envelopes, and other regular mail accessories. Going to the post office these days is a nightmare. I am really tired of the system because it is way too slow and inefficient. Although there are machines people can use to print stamps and other things, barely anyone uses it.

I had to go to the post office yesterday. I did not have any envelopes or stamps and I also needed tape so that I could attach a label onto the envelope. I waited for about twenty minutes but I left since the line did not move a single inch while I waited. I will go there again today, and I really hope there will be less people there this time.

The White House

There is one thing in particular that I adore with the United States, the generosity and good will of the people. I just watched the show Extreme Home Makeover and I always get a little choked up when watching it.

In this show, ABC builds a brand new house to people who have been through tough times or done something remarkable. They do this in one week while the family has been taken away for vacation. The house always turns out amazingly beautiful and I really enjoy seeing these people’s faces when they see their new house for the first time.

Today, ABC airs a Christmas special on the White House. Barack Obama and the first lady give exclusive interviews and viewers are invited to places like the oval office. It is quite astonishing to see what it looks like inside the White House and how everything has been decorated.

People have different opinions about this kind of promotion though. Some say that the President loses credibility as a powerful spokesperson when he shows that he is much like the average American. Some claim that this proves the opposite and that it is of advantage to him.

I am split on the issue. I definitely like seeing the activities inside the White House. I think it is interesting to hear what the President has to say about certain issues involving Christmas and I love to hear that many ordinary Americans help to decorate and prepare Christmas activities inside the White House.

I need to go out to take Christmas pictures around New York soon. Like I have said before, it will be hard to find an opportunity to go to Rockefeller Center because of the tourists but I will try to go there soon.

I turned in the group project for my group dynamics class today. I am extremely satisfied with everyone’s participation and engagement. Two group members did not contribute but it worked out well anyway thanks everyone else’s hard work. We turned in three documents; the actual business plan, a time line, and a PowerPoint presentation. It all added up to more than 25 pages and we all have confidence in its potential.

I want to remind everyone who needs help with their application to Berkeley College or anything else in regards to studying abroad that I am here to help. Please send me an email rather than posting comments on the blogs. I rarely read these comments but I regularly check my email and I will, in most cases, get back to people within 24 hours.

Christmas

The winter has come to New York. Today was the coldest day this winter with roughly 30 degrees. My girlfriend and I travelled to Flushing to have lunch. There were no uptown bound trains so we had to go to Coney Island first. It therefore took more than an hour to go to Flushing and we were starving when we got there.

The food was great though. There is a Chinese place close to the subway station at Main Street. It is a small place but always packed with people. You basically chose to pay for three or four dishes and can pick your own food based on their selection, which is presented to people in a buffet kind of way except that they prepare the plate for you.

There is one thing that bothers me with group projects. In the end when you put together the paper, there is always the question of who you should give credits too. In my online class, for example, only five people in my group out of seven have been participating in our discussions.

I am mentioning this because a group member just posted something saying that she believed everyone had participated. It is definitely easier to put everyone’s name on the paper, but is it fair? I do not feel so and even though it may seem cruel, I rather exclude the persons that do not participate. I responded to the post and I am waiting for group members’ reactions.

Tiger Woods is definitely being analyzed these days. This stuff is really getting annoying. The latest I heard was that he will be travelling to Sweden to escape rumors about prostitutes and other negative news. The funny thing is that people in Sweden knows exactly what is going on since the media is covering the story intensely.

I have not gone to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree yet. I definitely want to go but I am not sure when because the place is packed with tourists on this time of the year. I could be a good idea to go there very early in the morning but I am not sure I have the energy to get up that early. However, that is probably the only way of taking a good picture of the tree.

I do not have any plans for this weekend. Right now, I feel that I want to go out to do something but I am not sure of what to do. I still want to go to Bryant Park to go ice skating because that is, for me, a holiday tradition. Bryant Park is extremely romantic around Christmas. They have small stores set up and a lot of Christmas decorations installed. The pond also helps to spread the Christmas spirit of course.

I need to do some Christmas shopping soon. I just realized that time is running out and I have not bought anything yet. However, I bought a pair of shoes for myself online today at Spring. I got 50% off so I made a good deal. They will not be delivered until December 21st though, which is way too late according to me. I really hope that they fit and look as good as they do on the pictures. Time will tell.

Final Week

I will have a day off tomorrow, which feels good. Final week is coming up and I need to prepare a few projects. It looks like everything is coming together satisfactorily and I feel happy about most of my latest results.

I got back my business plan today in my small business management class. The professor said it was one of the best ones in class, which made me feel accomplished. I had a good feeling about the business plan before, but I would have chosen another start-up business if I could have done it all over again.

I will not have any more classes in small business management. My professor will return homework next week for people who did not hand in everything on time. I still have to go to school though because I need to attend my class in management for change.

I do have a final for that class. We will have a review on Tuesday and the test is on Thursday the same week. It will cover many chapters but my final will be take-home as a reward for doing well in class. My professor recently got her book published. The book was rated best-seller by Amazon and I am glad to have her as a professor.

The book is called “Rhythm without Blues: The Dichotomy of a Music Genre” and my professor’s name is Dr. Thomson.

I did my final test for my marketing research class today. As I have mentioned before, it is an online class and the tests are to be completed on the online blackboard. I scored 88 out of 100 on it, which I am not too happy about. I still have a 94.5 percent average in the class though so I am in the range of receiving an A for the class. That is really all I care about at this moment.

I was determined to start exercising today. I have not done so in months and I feel way too out of shape nowadays. I was getting ready for it but when I plugged in the wire for my exercise bike, nothing happened and the bike was not powered on.

The reason was that the wire had been bitten off by my cat. It really upset me because it happened ones before and it takes a while for the manufacturer to send a new adapter. I called the manufacturer but they said they could not send me a new adapter because my warranty was covered by Modell’s and not them.

I therefore called Modell’s but they claimed that I had to call the manufacturer. After being redirected a couple of times, I was finally able to convince Modell’s that I had purchased an extended warranty under Modell’s name.

As a result, they asked me to send back the receipt so that I could be refunded. I explained how silly it would be to send back the whole bike just because of a broken wire but they then corrected me and said that I did not have to send back the bike. All they wanted was the receipt. In other words, they let me keep the bike. That is what I call customer service. The only thing I have to do now is to purchase a new adapter, which would cost approximately $25.

Shopping Skills

I am getting better at shopping. I went to Lord and Taylor today with my girlfriend to buy some Clinique lotion because they had a special deal and they gave out free gift sets to people spending $25 or more. The gift set consisted of a small bag containing makeup. People who spent over $49.50 received a bigger bag.

The lotion we wanted to buy cost $24 so we fell short for the small gift set. However, we bought two bottles of lotion each so we received one gift each. We thereafter asked whether we would not be eligible for the bigger gift-set since we spent more than $49.50 together. The cashier said no at first since we split the payment. However, after explaining to her that we could then just return the item and repurchase everything again, she agreed to give us the bigger bag also.

The cashier forgot that she gave us the small gift sets too though so we actually received a lot more than we were supposed to get or at least I think we did. The gift set includes the lotion we originally bought so we have a lot of it now.

I applied the changes that my group suggested to our business plan. We have one week to finish everything and I feel that we have come a long way from just two weeks ago. I cannot wait until it is finished and I really hope that there will not be any major conflicts this week.

I personally feel that it is a great business plan. Some people in the group preferred it to be clearer and more direct with flashier pictures. I agreed with them that it should include direct statements but flashy pictures would make it too informal. I therefore suggested the group to create a PowerPoint presentation to represent the presentation of the business plan and the group agreed to this.

I have made the new business plan very clear. If they keep saying it is too unclear, I do not know what I should do. I will probably ask them to make the changes and send it to me instead in that case. Anyway, it will hopefully not go to that point but this group has made it hard for me before.

It was snowing in New York yesterday. The snow stayed on the ground for about five minutes before it melted. It was raining at the same time so it really was not good winter weather. I cannot wait until it snows again. I want to go out to take pictures next time it happens so that I have some fresh pictures to post on the blog.

Today's picture is from the Halloween parade in October. A lot of crazy people join the parade on that day.

No More Final Week

I just discovered something interesting. When I came home from work yesterday, I wanted to buy Bacardi Coolers so I went to a liquor store to do so. However, according to the owner, he was not allowed to sell it for some reason.

What is funny about this is that convenience stores are allowed to sell it and these are usually the places where people go to buy it. These stores include 7-Eleven and various around-the-corner places. How can a liquor store not be allowed to sell it while a convenience store is?

Later today I am going to a friend’s house to eat Korean food. He has prepared something very Korean and I am really looking forward to going there. I am going together with my girlfriend and there will probably be five other people going there too.

I do not have much homework to do this weekend, which is nice. I do have to finish a business plan for one of my online classes though but there is not too much for me to do on that. My girlfriend also wants to visit a few stores tomorrow because she got a few coupons on Black Friday that she wants to redeem. This is how businesses attract customers and it always works!

My wisdom tooth feels much better now. It has been painful and sometimes it still is. I think it grew out a lot these days actually because I can see much more of it now than I could just a week ago. I cannot wait until this agonizing process is complete.

Berkeley College removed the “final week” from the schedule this quarter and I think it is a long lasting decision. I personally feel that it is a good ruling. The final week sometimes caused conflicts in people’s schedules because everyone’s schedule was changed and students had to follow a customized schedule instead.

Instead of having everyone follow a new schedule, classes will continue like normal the last week. Finals will still take place, of course, but under regular hours. I personally do not know why it has not always been like this because it does not make sense to me to change the schedule for the last week.

Many students book flights and other tickets on the final week, which causes them to miss their finals. These students are sometimes allowed to take the final on another date that will fit with their schedule. This kind of policy will be terminated. It simply is not fair to other students.

The weather has been quite weird lately. It was almost at freezing point three days ago. However, the following day it was over 64 degrees and people were wearing t-shirts. I definitely like the cold weather and I really hate when you dress up for winter and you go outside just to realize that it is warm as in the summer. There will hopefully not be any more days like this for the rest of the year.

Cold

I got a cold a few days ago and it is still hanging on to me. I do feel better but a troubling wisdom tooth is not making my situation better. It is coming out and everything looks fine so I do not want to waste time going to a dentist right now.

Yesterday was a great day for me. I made a presentation together with my Boeing group and everything went very well. We showed a video as a starter and I then went on to talk about what kind of change Boeing has experienced the last few years.

Another group member spoke after me and she talked about our group’s opinion in regards to Boeing’s affairs. Even though I felt very confident and not nervous before the presentation, I got a little anxious, as usual, when I got up in front of the class. I am much better on stage now than I was before college though and I can clearly see that I have improved. However, I do not think people notice it, which is good.

My group also had a quiz at the end of the presentation. We wanted to make sure people were listening so we rewarded people with chocolate if they got it right. The presentation lasted for twenty minutes even though it felt more like five.

Three other groups were also presenting their work. One group was talking about Blockbuster and had a quiz similar to ours. Instead of chocolate, they handed out DVDs. I won one DVD but the movie seems quite boring to be honest.

My group in my online group dynamics class has finally given its consent to go with my idea. We only have one week to finish this so I will have to get started with the project immediately. I will take everyone’s suggestions into consideration and make the altercations necessary. I do feel that it is a good paper and with everyone’s ideas put together, it will get even better.

I need to take a few more pictures with my camera. As you may have noticed, I have posted a lot of pictures of trees, leaves, and parks. The reason is that I do not have access to my other pictures yet since they are in another hard drive. Today, I will post the last nature picture for a while.

I am looking forward to see some snow in the city. I will definitely try to go out to take pictures in Central Park when this happens. It also gets much quieter in Brooklyn when it snows. I guess people in general are more careful when it snows because of the icy roads, which contributes to a quiet environment.

Next week will be the last on at Berkeley College for this quarter. The week following that one consists of finals so I do not want to count that one in since I most likely will only have one final. The reasons are my online classes and a take-home project that will substitute the final.