My Blog

I may have been born in MO, but I am a true New Yorker at heart.  Last year, I got to attend my first Broadway Show and it was inspiring.  I went online and found several Broadway Ticket Brokers that were selling tickets to High School Musical on Broadway.  I had wanted to see several different Broadway Shows, however, this was the show that was available on the weekend I could be in New York for.  Well, I was mesmerized by the show.  All the music and dancing, live and we got the most Wicked Tickets.  It cost us a bit of money, but being front row to all that action was truly amazing.

Actually, everything about my first New York City experience was amazing.  The show of course was incredible and then we did all the touristy things that NYC has to offer.  We went to Penn Station and the Imax theater.  We went up to the top of the Empire State Building.  That was the highest I had ever been in my whole life.  We of course went to ground zero.  Although, I really wished I had gotten to see the actual World Trade Center, prior to the attack.  They say it was 2 buildings bigger than the Empire State Building, but it is really hard to imagine standing next to buildings that were that tall.  It was a very sobering experience. 

We walked the streets, and found that New Yorker’s are really more friendly than people give them credit for, however, at night, some of the people were seedy and a little scary looking.  I tried not to act like a tourist, but I am sure that the amazement had to show on my face.  I was careful not to wear a lot of jewelry or carry a lot of cash.

We went shopping on at Sax Fifth Avenue and at Bloomingdales and Macy’s.  I had always seen these stores on TV during the Thanksgiving parade, but everything was much bigger and more life like in person.  I was shocked at the prices, so then we went to a few of the little knock off shops and picked up a few goodies.

We went to Rockefeller Center, obviously, there was no tree. (I would have like to have seen it, but it wasn’t there in September.)  Lastly, we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  What an incredible piece of work! It was almost as if you could feel God in that place.  I lit a candle for my grandma, and then it was back to MO. 

We flew out at night, and could see all the lights of New York City, it was so beautiful! If you have never flown into or out of New York at night, you should definitely do it.  It is really one of the great experiences in life.

I am really excited for this weekend. Other than the fact that I don’t work and will have finished all of my midterms by friday at noon, it is going to be really fun. I was talking to a buddy of mine that I met in my Psychology class yesterday and he said that he was going out this weekend to take out one of his dad’s boats. At first I was a bit stunned because we had talked about how we were of the less affluent crowd before, but he assured me that he only gets discount marine electronics. I had always heard that boats were expensive. My uncle used to say “The definition of a boat is a hole in the ocean where you pour your money”. So my buddy told me about how he and his dad love to go fishing and always have. They go out as much as they can with one of three boat shells that they have with one of two trolling motors they keep up to shape. We got to talking about the kinds of stuff he takes out with him and yesterday he actually took me along with him to this shop just outside of town that sells marine electronics and boating supplies. It was cool because I had never been out on a boat before so I didn’t know what kinds of boating accessories there were out there. Some people really take this fishing stuff to the extreme. The depth finders with GPS are pretty advanced. I’d heard of Lowrance before, but they have some serious technology now.  Discount marine electronics are big business apparently. My friend though was a keep it simple kind of guy and he kept it to the minimum. In our conversation at the shop I did have one kind of cool little moment of crystallization when he mentioned trim tabs which remembered from my days as an amateur pilot and we kind of went off on motor designs and rudder designs that everyone around us must have thought was just crazy. Nothing like mechanical guy talk! Anyway though, we are going out on saturday morning for a bit of fishing and if we don’t catch anything we are just going to troll around the lake and check it out since he’s never been to this one in town before. If we do catch something, which I hope we do, we’re going to come back home and he’s going to show me how to skin and clean fish. I wonder what fish tastes like when it’s that fresh? I hope I find out this weekend.

Thinking about a career in modeling, well be careful.  There are many people out there who will be glad to victimize the naïve newcomers and take there money and sometimes more, without any results.

If you are a newcomer to this industry, then you must be very wary of everyone and everything.  There are great opportunities available in modeling, but there also can be a lot of pitfalls along the way.  A good first step is to look into modeling schools.  Be sure to find one that has a good reputation and preferably one who has schooled a famous model or two.  This shows that they have some connections in the industry.  If you can go to modeling school, they will help you learn what you need to know and will help you get some professional pictures done that you can send to a modeling agency.  They will also be able to help get you in for some auditions.

If you are going to have to try doing this on your own, then you will still need some great pictures of yourself to put out there to casting directors and modeling agencies.  Remember, this is going to be the first chance they have to see you, so the pictures need to show the different sides of you and need to be incredible.  Also, be sure to include a personal bio to let them know all about you.  Be sure to include your measurements, height, weight and some interesting things about yourself.  Modeling jobs are not easy to come by and you may be hitting the pavement for a while before landing a job.  Usually if you send your information out to enough people, you may get asked to come in for some open casting calls.  These can be grueling as anyone can come to an open casting call.  If a lot of people have heard about it, you could spend all day in a chair waiting for your turn, and trying to look beautiful for all that time, can really mess with you.  Be sure that you are dressed beautifully, but comfortably.  Don’t wear cheap make-up that will run or smear, and be sure to bring the essentials with you so you can touch up in the powder room, so you will look fresh.  Don’t wear clothes, makeup or a hairstyle that won’t last all day, because you don’t want to blow a shot at impressing someone who could possibly hold your fate in their hands.  They will expect you to be on your game whatever time they call you in, so be prepared.

Modeling can be fun, but a lot of work.  Be sure to keep looking, if you really want a job you will find one.

Have you ever noticed that some people seem just cut out for being in the public eye? If you stop and really look at some of these superstars and icons in our society they are truly cut out for it.  I just saw The View with Barbara Walters and they were interviewing Barack Obama.  She is just one of those people who seems to be untouchable in the public eye.  No matter what she does or says, she never seems to be ridiculed. 

Then there are the people like Britney Spears, who definitely was forced into acting by over zealous parents.  Movie auditions and TV appearances while still in elementary school.  I don’t know about you, but when I was in elementary school I wasn’t even thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of my life, I just figured if I had on the right clothes and got a good seat on the bus, then all was good.  Then it seems that her parents thought, it would be a good idea to get her sis into the business too.  I guess maybe the Britney cash cow had gone dry, so they decided to get little sis, Jaime out on some casting calls quick.  I don’t know actually if she started with modeling jobs or film auditions first, anyway, I am sure that everyone was dying to see if Jaime was going to be the next Britney. 

It is really sad, that now these two young lives are so messed up and all to make a buck.  I mean can you imagine calling a modeling agency and saying I have a really pretty 5 month old, can they come in and audition?  I mean where do you find modeling auditions for a 5 month old? Are they in the paper or something?

It seems to me that life in the public eye can be extremely difficult and growing up in it even worse.  Think about how hard it is to be a teenager, and then imagine doing it with people following you around everywhere, questioning and criticizing your every move.  Imagine being an insecure teenage girl and seeing an unflattering picture of yourself in swimsuit on the front cover of a magazine under the headline, “Too Many Cookies, Or Bun in The Oven”.  I can’t even think of what these poor children have to endure.  Sure the money is great, I can’t dispute that, but at what price?

Robbie at The Lokey Volkswagen car dealership says “Your credit rating is fairly high.” Man, I wish I had a digital recorder in my pocket to play that back over and over.  I had some credit problems, but have worked very hard to build up my credit again. “Fairly high” is music to my ears.  I have been car shopping, and finally found a used VW Jetta that I can afford.  Several dealerships offered to run a free credit report for me, but knowing that my credit has been shaky in the past, I declined until I found the car I knew I wanted.  Which brings me to my point…..

So why is it that running a credit report will hurt your credit rating? They say too many in too short of a time span is frowned upon. Well that really makes it hard to shop and compare. What I wanted to do was run a free credit report online to see if it was better or not before car shopping. I want to see exactly what my credit score is now. But my friends and even one of the car dealerships advise not to run too many. I find this ridiculous. In this day and age, why can’t the credit bureaus accommodate this? Or maybe they do, maybe that is an old wives’ tale. At minimum, you should be able to obtain your own credit score without any penalty, and this could be possible, I am just ignorant about this. The entire system for determining a credit rating is a mystery, and it should be more transparent. When I actually saw my credit report (that the dealer said he was not supposed to show me??? It’s MY credit score!), I couldn’t make heads or tails of it anyhow.  But the bottom line, griping aside, is that ‘fairly high’ is fantastic and I’m gettin’ a Jetta. Sweet!

Time to get on my soapbox: pop stars glorifying drug use, drug abuse, and drug addiction. Amy Winehouse in particular. She’s young-ish. She’s trendy. She’s incredibly talented, her music and her voice are so appealing, timeless. She sounds so sophisticated and soulful and deep. But my god, that woman is a mess. Had I never read an article, seen a picture, I would still be able to enjoy her music and picture her as an old black woman singing her heart out. Even the rehab - no no no song, you don’t think of it as auto-biographical, seems like she is singing about someone else to me. But there she is again and again, arrested and in and out of drug rehab. And is it coke? heroin? alcohol addiction?

Drug addiction is not something to brag about, sing about in that way. To glorify wanting to avoid drug treatment programs is pitiful. Drug addiction wrecks lives, it tears families apart and it ruins futures for young adults. And drug treatment is complicated. For drug rehab, I picture Twelve step programs, alcoholics anonymous, counseling, out patient drug treatment programs, or full blown rehab, all choices that addicts make, and here we have a singer making it sound cool to refuse to go. I love that song, but the message is appalling. I am sure there is a different meaning, maybe somewhere buried in the lyrics is a lesson or point of view, but in the meantime what is stuck in my head, and stuck in our youths heads, is “no-no-no” “I ain’t got the time”. Shameful and embarrassing.  I know that drugs and pop culture have been intertwined, I know stars die from drug overdoses, this is old news, but something about her is so disturbing.

All of my life growing up, we had a maid for house cleaning. I know that conjures up images of rich folks with staff limousine drivers and summers in the Hamptons. That was certainly not us though. Our 4/2 ranch was modest and large. With 3 kids though, and 2 working parents, it was hard to keep up with. When we were young, my parents realized that their time was more valuable. Their time could either be spent barely keeping up, cleaning on the weekends, being embarrassed when company stopped by unannounced—or use a house cleaning service and spend more time being a family. The family story is that my father gave this as a gift to my hardworking mother for Mother’s Day, because she was too proud to allow him to hire help (“Don’t be ridiculous, I can handle keeping this house clean and working 35 hours a week, my friends would never let me live it down to have a maid, we’re not RICH, Frank!”) When it became a gift for 3 months, she got used to it and realized that there were still plenty of house cleaning chores for us all to do.

Now once the family got used to employing a weekly cleaning service, we did tend to get a little lazy. We’d leave small chores end of the week because Gladys came on Fridays. (Gladys owned her own house cleaning business, but as she grew, she always did our work personally, and still sends me birthday cards) This meant Thursdays were pretty grody at our house. And the value of chores/allowance was skipped over at first. So as we got older, we were assigned chores on our own: some of which we could have used the maid service for, such as an extra vacuum during the week. But most were standard household chores that a maid did not typically do: folding laundry, cleaning windows, mowing the lawn (though my mother eventually treated my father to lawn service too) We were not spoiled. And we were not rich. And we still did not always have a clean house. But we learned a valuable lesson about time management. The truth is, it is a practical sound way to spend your money, and although I am on a tight budget now, I know that once I get my degree, my time will be more valuable. This concept runs deep: if I can spend those 4 hours a week doing something to make more money, or refreshing so that I am sharp when I need to be, then it is worth every penny.

Téléplanète ou la fin de la carte telephonique

  Cela fait des années que les utilisateurs de carte telephonique internationale se font arnaquer mais lorsqu’on telephone Afrique ou telephone Maghreb, on n’a pas vraiment le choix, on subit! Il y a très peu de moyens simples et pas chers pour appeler en Afrique. Tous les nouveaux services comme les offres ADSL de type box, les forfaits mobiles internationaux, les offres de VoIP sont réservés aux appels vers les destinations les plus riches.  Pour les personnes qui ont besoin d’appeler en Afrique notamment, il reste le taxiphone ou bien la carte telephonique prépayée. Là, il est vrai, l’offre est large mais y en a-t-il une seule qui est fiable? Existe-t-il une seule carte telephonique qui permet de passer des appels qui durent véritablement le temps annoncé? Toutes les cartes téléphoniques prépayées, quelles qu’elles soient, annoncent le temps d’une communication en une seule fois. C’est-à-dire que lorsqu’il est écrit: 120 minutes d’appel vers telle destination, il faut rester 120 minutes en ligne la première fois pour pouvoir vraiment profiter de ces 120 minutes. Sinon, si vous raccrochez au bout de 20 minutes, lorsque vous allez utiliser à nouveau votre carte telephonique, il vous sera indiqué qu’il ne vous reste plus que 40 mn par exemple! Avec une carte telephonique, il y a des coûts de connexion et des coûts de maintenance très, très importants. Parfois, le simple fait que votre correspondant décroche peut vous débiter 5 minutes de votre carte telephone.  Cependant, lorsqu’on telephone en Afrique, on n’a souvent pas d’autres choix que d’utiliser une carte telephonique. Enfin…Ca c’était avant l’arrivée du service de téléphonie internationale low-cost Téléplanète.  Téléplanète permet d’appeler dans le monde entier moins cher et sans aucun abonnement ou engagement. Il n’y a rien à acheter donc pas de carte telephonique notamment et pas de code PIN.  A la différence des cartes téléphoniques, il y a une véritable transparence au niveau des prix. Vous avez tout le détail sur votre facture telephonique.  Grâce à Téléplanète, vous avez le choix de ne plus acheter de carte telephonique mais surtout de payer moins cher vos appels internationaux. Il suffit de composer un numéro qui commence par 08, depuis n’importe quel téléphone en France, suivi de celui de votre correspondant à l’étranger. On trouve le numéro sur www.teleplanete.com N’oubliez pas de taper l’indicatif international de la destination où vous téléphonez et de terminer par dièse. Vous êtes libre de faire cette opération aussi souvent que vous le souhaitez. Si vous voulez être sûr que nous, nous ne vous mentons pas, attendez votre prochaine facture telephonique et vous aurez alors tout le détail des appels. Tous les opérateurs sont partenaires, c’est pourquoi vous ne recevez que votre facture habituelle. Votre opérateur télécom nous reversera le montant de vos appels internationaux passés par Téléplanète. Vous n’avez à vous soucier de rien. Moins cher, plus simple et plus transparent, quel peut bien être l’avantage de la carte telephonique internationale face à Téléplanète?

Many people think that games are a modern invention.  The truth is that games existed long before we did.  Games that were similar to chess, checkers, backgammon and multiple dice games existed long ago.

The history of games actually dates back to the Anglo-Saxon age.  Archeological finds show a primitive form of dice used in ancient times.  These dice were six sided dice mostly made of antler and bone, however, it is believed that others may have been made of wood and other materials that more than likely degraded over time.

The odd arrangement of numbering on ancient dice is different from the dice of today.  Some show duplicate numbers on two or more sides, while others show the numbers 1 and 2 on the smallest sides indicating that these were the preferred numbers to roll for the games they were used for.  Upon excavation of these dice, they were x-rayed and found to contain one sided weights used to increase the odds of rolling one number over another. (in other words this was a primitive form of cheating) Though, some of the dice were cubes, most of the dice that were uncovered have been rectangular in shape, with 4 long sides, and two square smaller sides.

In addition to these primitive dice, game boards were also unearthed.  One very interesting game board looks amazing similar to that of a modern day backgammon board.  This type of board has been found to have roots in Germany, Rome and in Gloucester.  These boards were used to play a game called Tabula.

Experts speculate that a Tabula board was used to play a game similar to the modern game of backgammon.  There were fifteen pieces of each color (some were black and white, some were red and white) for a total of 30 pieces in all.  Each player would line up there pieces and by rolling 3 dice consecutively would execute moves in an attempt to get all there pieces to their home, and eventually removed from the board completely.  The person who was the first to get all fifteen of their pieces off the board was the winner.

It is truly amazing to think that today we can play online backgammon as well as on a board or in a casino.  Surely, the people of ancient times would be amazed if they could watch a game of online backgammon today.

I have just been working on a paper for class on Italy. I had to research Italy from a visitors perspective, and I was amazed. I had never wanted to travel abroad before. Foreign travel always seemed a little unnecessary to me. Well, quite frankly I never knew what beauty lie in the land of Italy.

I went online and discovered the beauty of Tuscany with its rolling hills and winding roads. The beautiful little cottages and castles covered in ivy that lie at every turn in the road. Quite a sight to see.

I looked into Venice and beautiful canals that pass like road through this incredible one of a kind city. Gondolas lining the canals to take the people where they want to go. Quaint little bridges to cross the canals are all over the place. This is a one of a kind city.

Then I looked at Rome, and the beautiful architecture. The Colosseum is truly an amazing structure.

While researching I got to see some beautiful Italy apartments and Italy villas that just draw you in. I started thinking what a great place to go, so much to see and do. So different from anything here in the US.

And then I found it, the most amazing place in Italy an island called Sardinia. This place was not very touristy. They did have Sardinia apartments and Sardinia villas to rent for a vacation, but this area was more set aside. It had beautiful beaches, but was not a built up area, and in this area you would stay amongst the Italians who lived there. You could visit their villages and shops with lots of things to do, but just everyday kinda things.

I never knew that Italy was so beautiful and had so much to see. I also saw some prices while I was online looking and although it wouldn’t be cheap to go, it wouldn’t cost that much. The biggest cost I believe would be the airfare which obviously to Europe can get a little pricey.

I think now that I would love to take a trip to Italy, but it would have to be a long trip as there is too much there to see in a week. It makes me wonder what other mysteries lie over in Europe and what I am missing out on.