New President

The election is officially over and that is a great relief. I have never experienced an election this long and it has been truly historical.

Many people celebrated yesterday since Obama is a great favorite in New York. Most people gathered at Times Square and I know that many foreign countries broadcasted from there.

I thought it would be tight between McCain and Obama but I was obviously wrong. Obama won with a landslide and the democrats now have power in not only the white house, but in the senate and the house too.

My cat is really adorable. She is still very comfortable with my fiancée and I and there have not been any problems with her.

I had a test in math today but I was not very nervous about it. I studied for it a little yesterday and I felt that I knew everything we had to know. The test consisted of twenty questions. 18 of them were about graphing and two of them were based on the previous test we had.

The teacher put two questions from the previous test because he does not want us to forget what we did before. The final will be cumulative so it is important to remember it.

My fiancée and I are still in the process of moving our things out from our old room into the new one. It is amazing how much stuff we could fit in there actually.

It felt a little weird to go to bed yesterday. The room is so much bigger and everything is different. What is really good about the room is that it has double windows. We are on the second floor and there is a road with pretty much traffic outside. With the windows closed we barely hear anything and it is quieter then in our old room.

I have a test in consumer behavior tomorrow. I have not studied that much for it so I really have to start doing that now. We have had a couple of reviews in class so I know what to expect and I have also read and made highlights in the book.

I do not think that I will have a problem with the test. Much of it is somehow a repetition of my old marketing classes. The test will cover segmentation, research, and some psychological measurements. 

Kitten

My fiancée and I have thought about getting a kitten for a long time now. We have looked at different alternatives and found a great adoption center here in New York.

One other issue has been that our room is not big enough. That problem was solved a few days ago because our roommate moved out and we will move to a much bigger room. We talked to our landlord about it a few days ago and he accepted it.

My fiancée found a really cute kitten on the adoption centers website. They had just gotten it and we both kind of fell in love with that kitten right away. I went to have a look on it yesterday and I found it to be really cute.

I dealt with all the paperwork, which was not too complicated. The kitten had to stay over night because it had to be spayed.

When I picked up my fiancée that same evening, we went to a supermarket to buy all the necessities. I actually got a litter box in the afternoon. It is really good and looks like a small house with a transparent hatch. It has an air filter so it will not smell anything.

My fiancée took the day of from her work today so that we could pick up the kitten together. She had not seen it yet so she was really excited. The cat is about two months old and is white and orange. The breed is called Domestic Shorthair.

We got home about two hours ago and the cat is fantastic. It is really comfortable with us and it actually fell asleep on the train home. That is very surprising because it is very noisy down there.

The adoption center told us that it was a little stiff but that is definitely not accurate. The kitten started playing and cuddling with us right away.

One thing that I was a little worried about was if the kitten would start to use the litter box right away or if it would accidently do its personal business on the floor. I am pretty used to cats since I grew up with a few so I know how to train them.

I put the kitten in the litter box and scratched her paws in the sand. She did her business right after that and everything is working out perfectly so far.

I had a quiz in math yesterday and that went great. I just checked my score and I got five out of five correct. I will have a bigger test in math tomorrow with twenty questions so I have practiced for that one tonight. 

Halloween

One thing that I really like about Berkeley College is that they use the latest technology. When I have math for example, the professor uses the projector, which is connected wirelessly to some kind of device that he can draw on. What ever he draws will be shown on the big screen as you can see on the picture.

The drawing device is like I said wireless so he can actually walk around in the classroom while showing examples on the big screen. This is very helpful, not only for the teacher but for us, the students.

I will take finance next quarter, and I will probably take statistics after that quarter. I am looking forward to that a little actually even though it is math because the same teacher I have now in college algebra, I will have in statistics.

The Halloween parade is taking place right now in Manhattan. I decided to stay at home because it is very crowded there and I was there last year. The subway gets crazy around this time because of all the people showing up.

I think that there are about two million people every year that go to watch the parade. It is definitely an experience to be there and I do not think there is anything else like it anywhere in the world.

I had to buy a new metro card today. I do not think I have mentioned this in my blog before but a monthly unlimited-rides metro card is $81. I think that it is pretty cheap actually. $81 will take you anywhere in New York City and you can use the subway as well as buses.

I will have a test in math this Monday. It is only a quiz, consisting of five problems but there will be a bigger test on Wednesday. The quiz is only to prepare us and I think that it is a great idea that really helps students to perform better on the tests.

I also have a test in consumer behavior. I will have to read three chapters for Thursday, which is when that test is taking place.

I am preparing for my trip to Sweden this Christmas. I am really looking forward to go there because I have not seen my dad for almost a year. My mom was here just about a month ago but I miss her too.

I will bring my fiancée to Sweden and I am really looking forward to show her around and tell her about places I used to go to. We will probably travel to Stockholm too to celebrate New Years Eve.

I am from the south part of Sweden so we will have to take the train there. I think it is a five-hour ride, so it is not that bad. I will take a lot of pictures and probably post some of them here. 

Good News

My math class was cancelled yesterday, which was my only class. That could have been good news if I would have found out about the cancellation before actually going to school.

I was supposed to have a quiz in math tomorrow but it has been postponed to Monday, since last class was cancelled. We are right now calculating linear functions and drawing graphs. It is not that hard so I am not suffering too much right now.

It was not all bad that I went in to school yesterday. I still had to go to the gym and I also had to pick up a book at the Manhattan library.

I found out today that my business law midterm has been postponed one class. That is great news because that means that I only have one test next week, which will be in consumer behavior.

Another good news is that my consumer behavior teacher decided to split up the test next week because he considered it being too much. Instead of having six chapters, we will now only have three.

It is still a lot of information though and we will have a test on the next three chapters the week after.

I also got back my test in microeconomics today. The average score was 73 out of 100, which is pretty low. I got 98 though so I am very happy with that. The mistake I made was a question in which I had at first put the right answer and then changed it to another one.

That was a little annoying but since I got a great score I really do not care about it that much.

There will be a Halloween parade this Friday in Manhattan so I will go there with my fiancée. It is always very spectacular and there are all kinds of crazy people there. The costumes that some people come up with are brilliant.

I am thinking about attending a football game. I have talked to a friend of mine and we both really want to go. The stadium is located in New Jersey but there are buses going there. A roundtrip only costs $10 so it is definitely affordable.

We want to go as soon as possible because Super Bowl is coming up and prices are increasing every week. We have been thinking about buying tickets for about $200. Since we will not attend many football games we thought that it might be worth it.

We will get great seats if we spend that much so that would be a really fun experience. 

Ice Skating In Bryant Park

The pond in Bryant Park is now open for ice-skating and I am really looking forward to go there to skate. I will probably go there today with my fiancée and we have our own skates so we will not have to pay anything for it.

I have not studied much this weekend because I do not have any tests coming up next week. I did type down my notes from my business law class though and they now count to about ten pages in size 10, which is a lot.

I had a really good time with my friend yesterday. We had decided to have breakfast together so I took the train to Chelsea to meet him. We went there about six months ago but they were closed that time so I was looking forward to go there again.

My friend told me that they had great fried potatoes and after tying them, I very much agree with him. We actually ordered a lot because both of us were very hungry. We shared a plate of three huge pancakes, had one omelet each, and some mini muffins and bread with strawberry jam.

I think that the United States has the best breakfast in the world. It is probably the unhealthiest too but I really do not care about that because I do not eat that kind of breakfast very often.

After having breakfast, my friend and I went to a bar to have a beer. It was after 12.00 PM so it was not too early for a drink. Chelsea is a really nice neighborhood in Manhattan. There are several excellent bars and restaurants so I really recommend people to go there sometime.

After saying goodbye to my friend, I had to go to a post office to ship a book that someone bought from me online. Most post offices were closed because it was after 1 PM and Saturday. There is, however, one post office that is open 24/7 in Manhattan.

It must be one of the biggest post offices in the world. It is located on 31^st Street at 8^th Avenue. Whether people have something to send or not, they should just go there to check it out because it is a beautiful building.

There were a huge number of police cars while I was there. I am not sure of what was happening but I have never seen that many cops at the same time before. It was not related to the post office because they were circulating around Madison Square Garden. I think that there might have been some sort of threat that they had to respond to. 

Weekend!

I had a test in microeconomics yesterday. I had not studied for it much because I felt that I already knew most if it since the first weeks have been a small review of material covered in macroeconomics.

I do not want to say that the test was easy but I did not have a problem with it. It was a multiple-choice test and many questions were similar to the ones I was asked in my class in macroeconomics.

The test covered supply and demand, the production-possibility frontier, opportunity costs, and some other things. I find it very interesting and I think I will get top score on the test.

I do not have any tests coming up next week but I have two tests the week after that. One test will be a multiple-choice test in consumer behavior and the other one will be a test in business law.

I assume that the test in business law will be pretty challenging because we have covered a lot of material from the book. We have, among other things, talked about contracts and damages and it is very interesting. I am sure that it will be very useful in the future in some way.

We will also talk about real estate. We have talked about it in some extent already because some of it was covered in the chapter about contracts. This knowledge is great to have since I live in an apartment and have a landlord so I know a lot more know about laws that I might be affected by.

I did not sell all my books in school this quarter so I tried to find another way to sell it. I found a website called www.half.com and they let you sell books online. It is a subsidiary to EBay and it is very practical. I have sold two books in a few days so I am very satisfied with that site.

I will go out to have breakfast with a friend tomorrow. My fiancée needs to visit a museum with her class so I thought that it was a good idea to do so. I have heard that the place we will go to have great potatoes so I am looking forward to go there since I love potatoes. I do not know what it is called though because I have never been there before.

I will meet up with my fiancée after that and we will probably go to Union Square to shop a little. We have been thinking about catching a movie tonight but we will see if we are in the mood for that later. 

Study Tips

I remembered that my math teacher gave me some study tips in the first class. It is really helpful for people that might have problems when studying math. The guidelines are not very advanced but they really do help so here they are:

There is no substitution for study – practice, practice, and practice!

Math is an activity, like an exercise program. To be a successful student, you have to work on math. That is, do problems nearly every day. If circumstances force you to skip a few days, you will find that you’re a little out of mathematical shape when you return to it.

As an exercise program, it is possible for anyone to become mathematically fit with some diligence and a good attitude.

Reading a math book is different from reading a novel or even a history book. You can take your math book with you on a bus, but you may not get very much out of it during the ride. To read a math book and understand it you need to have a pencil in your hand and work through the examples along with the author.

At the end of every paragraph, or even every sentence, stop and ask yourself if you really understood what you just read.

When you find a topic difficult, it is easy to become discouraged. Given enough time, most of the topics in this course will come together for you. However, it is not just the time you spend with your head in the book and a pencil in your hand.

It is also the time you spend watching football on television or playing with your dog. Some mathematical concepts need percolating time, a few hours or even a few days to sink in, regardless of how hard or long you work on problems.

The best advice is that if you find yourself becoming frustrated, put down your pencil and think about something else for a while. Let your subconscious work on it and come back later. However, get help when you need it.

Some of the material you knew before will have faded. Sometimes you should look back over the things you have already done, convincing yourself that you still know how to do the earlier assignments. Do this before you go on to the new material.

This is what my professor told me and other students and I really believe that it will help some people to improve their study techniques. 

Registration For Next Quarter

I got back my score for the math test today. I got 15 out of 15 correct so I feel really happy about that. I feel a lot more confident about the rest of the math course now and I really think that I will be able to get an A without any bigger problems.

My business law class started of with some political discussions today. It is not very uncommon actually but today’s class was very amusing. We talked about an episode from the show “Family Guy” that caught some attention in the news.

Apparently, Stewie, a character in the show, stole a Nazi suits from some Germans during the Second World War. When they zoomed in on the suit, there was a McCain, Palin button on it. We talked about if it was right or wrong but also if teachers should be allowed to wear buttons like that in school.

The connection to business law was that there was an actual lawsuit against a teacher that wore a political button like that. It was an interesting discussion and almost everyone in the class has something to say about it.

I got back my quiz from the microeconomics class today. I got 5 out of 8 because I did not know that there were three more questions on the back of the paper. I see it as if I got 100% correct though because out of the five questions I did answer, everyone was correct. The professor told us that the average was actually lower than 5 out of 8, which makes me feel a little better.

Registration for next quarter started this week. I almost forgot about it but I registered after my last class today. It is not possible to book an appointment anymore. Instead, people will go there and the first person showing up will be the first one to be served. I do not know if I prefer that system because I had to wait for two hours today.

Berkeley College is, however, growing so I can understand that it will be a lot more efficient to do it this way. I was also showing up pretty late today so if I would go there at a more appropriate time, I would probably not have had to wait that long.

Next quarter will be interesting. I will have principles of finance, international business, anatomy and physiology, and professional selling. I am not that fond of anatomy so I might switch that class to forensic science. I have to choose a science class though since I want to take a science elective.

I will think about it tonight and if I decide to change that class, I will go to the advisor’s office tomorrow to switch to forensic science.