Semester is ending...

Okay so we have about....8 days of school left woo hoo! The begininng of this semester started out easy and then ended up crazy and hectic! I didnt expect it to be like highschool of course but papers were crazy at the end of this semester. I was up all weekened writing papers and doing powerpoints i barely slept, it was insane. Thankfully last night was my last late night! I was up till 12 went to sleep then woke back up at 5 to finish my paper. Annoying. I cant wait for this semester to end. Too many speeches, papers, and powerpoints please just end!!!!!! I think professors gang up together on us to bombard us with tons of work. Darn teachers. Anyways Christmas is coming so thats something to look foward to and to get through all this work. Few more days and we are done I cant wait. Then 6 weeks off and HELLLO Italy and Christmas. I also am looking foward to being with my friends from home over the holidays, should be a good time with everyone home from school! I am excited. Now i just need to get through these last few days then adios St. John's University!

Black Friday

Well every Friday after Thanksgiving is known as black Friday. Shoppers go out crazy searching for the hottest items and trying to pick up their holiday gifts for their friends and families. Everything goes on sale and the eyes of the shoppers get huge. They look for the greatest bargains and shop away! CNN has an article about this day i would like to share:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Worried retailers and mall operators breathed a big
sigh of relief after Black Friday 2007 kicked off to a robust start.
However, industry analysts caution that the early buying frenzy could soon
peter out - and endanger crucial weekend sales - as millions of pre-dawn
shoppers succumb to shopping fatigue.
"The early bird shoppers are definitely
out there. But will it last through the day?" said Marshal Cohen, chief industry
analyst with market research firm NPD Group.
Already, Cohen estimates that
mall traffic in the early hours appeared to be down slightly compared last
year.
"I'm basing this on mall parking lot capacity and the actual lines in
front of stores before they opened today," Cohen said. "Last year there were
200-300 people waiting for stores to open on Black Friday. This year, it's maybe
100. And when these 100 people get in, that's it. I'm not seeing a second big
rush into the store."
Retail
hordes go loony over Zune
To his point, a Wal-Mart
(Charts, Fortune
500) store in Union, N.J., seemed to attract a smaller crowd than last year
for its 5 a.m. opening. The shoppers who were there rushed to grab toys such as
the Bratz fashion dolls and Dora products and electronics like the Polaroid
42-inch LCD TV set for $798 and a Magnavox DVD/VHS player for $69.
"[Today]
will be an OK sales day, but the big issue is whether or not we'll get a
slowdown midday," said Cohen. "I'm waiting to see how sales do today and the
weekend. All three days are important, although I think Sunday will be much
quieter than last year."
The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed "Black Friday"
because it traditionally marks the day when retailers finally move out of the
red, indicating losses, and into the black, representing profit.
It also sets
the tone to the four weeks of gift-buying leading up to Christmas. Moreover,
November and December, together, can account for as much as 50 percent of
merchants' annual profits and sales.
Gallery:
Black Friday madness
This year's Black Friday rush is even more critical
for retailers, who are facing a tepid sales forecast for holiday 2007. The
National Retail Federation expects total holiday sales to grow 4 percent to $475
billion, its slowest growth in five years as millions of American households
curtail their spending habits amid a housing downturn and other economic
pressures.
If holiday sales come in below 4 percent, experts fear it could
result in a retail industry shakeout resulting marked by store closings in 2008.
"Retailers still haven't felt the full impact of the housing slump,
sub-prime [mortgage] collapse, credit card problems and fuel prices on American
households and their ability to spend," said Tim Finley, former CEO of men's
specialty chain Jos. A Bank who is now managing director with turnaround
consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.
Retail analyst Britt Beemer said he,
too, expects the shopping momentum to wane by mid-afternoon and in the coming
weeks.
Special Report:
Holiday Money 2007
"Stores have opened much earlier this year and this
will have a negative impact on sales," Beemer said. "If you are up at 4 a.m. to
go to J.C. Penney or Kohl's, chances are when you're done, there's no more
shopping left for you in the day."
Overall, Beemer expects holiday sales to
grow a diappointing 2 percent. "I'm sticking to that forecast unless I see
something improve dramatically over the next two weeks."
Specifically for
Black Friday, Beemer said retailers did the right thing by using deep discounts
to attract the early crowds but he's concerned that merchants may have killed
the Friday after-work shopping rush in the process.
Some mall operators,
however, took a different view.
Wally Brewster, spokesman for General Growth
Properties, which operates more than 200 malls nationwide, said the company had
similar concerns to Beemer's when some of its malls held midnight openings last
year for Black Friday.
"But when we looked at the combined sales for Friday
and the weekend, total sales at malls that opened at midnight showed a higher
increase compared to our malls that didn't," Brewster said. "We'll see if that
happens again this year."

Every year the shopping just continues to grow. The rush runs in and the stores empty out. We all have to stop and think, is it really worth the rush though. I love the holidays dont get me wrong, but i think people take it way too far with the shopping and just need to relax a bit!

Thanksgiving and not much eating!

Thursday November 22, 2007 as we all know was Thanksgiving. Being one of my favorite holidays because unofortionality i love to eat. This year is was my bright idea to have my wisdom teeth taken out on Wednesday the day before, stupid i know. Actually beneficial to me in the sense i didnt get to eat that much, but i still loveeee turkey day! Yesterday we had about 20 people over which was very nice because we do not get together much as a family with having such busy hectic lives. So the house was packed, food was everywhere and we had a nice day. Kids were running all over playing games, i personally was playing wii which i love and am addicted too. Adults were chatting and reminiscing on old times, and my aunts and uncles who are both newly engaged were love birding it up! I had a few friends stop by to keep me company which was nice. Got to see some friends i usually never get to since im away at school. Thanksgiving turned out to be a nice holiday despite i had two teeth missing.

Too many break lights.

Along this entire of Staten Island all I ever see are a million break lights because the Island is full of traffic. Down where I live in New Jersey, yes, we have traffic but here it never ever stops. For example this morning I drove from my aunts who lives in Tottenville and it took me an hour to get to school. This is rediculous. Everyday, anytime, no matter where you go traffic is all over. Something needs to be done. I do not know what but something. I cant stand even going out because I know it is going to take me an hour to get anywhere. I just sit around because traffic aggrevates me so bad i dont want to go out.
I cant solve the problem but maybe the mayor should do something about all this traffic. Maybe widen the roads, or make people work. Jeeze it seems like noone works around here just drives around! O well, nothing I can do but it just drives me crazy!!

Quake in Chili

"(CNN) -- A major earthquake hit northern Chile on Wednesday, and local
television showed cars crushed under a section of collapsed building and
terrified, confused residents in the streets.


The
earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and was centered 105 miles (170 kilometers)
north-northeast of the port city of Antofagasta, which also is the regional
capital. The epicenter was at a depth of 37 miles (60 kilometers), according to
the U.S. Geological Survey. The area is about 780 miles (1,245 kilometers) north
of Santiago. "

Earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados are everywhere tearing apart innocent lives. Unfortionality there is nothing we can do about this natural disasters. In Chile this earthquake ripped apart the northern area. Buildings were crushed along with residents all over the town. People were said to be "running around all over terrified". The earthquake was cited by ccn as " having a magnitude of 7.7 and centered 105 miles. The epicenter was at the depth of 37 miles and 780 miles north of Santiago. These natural disaster are ruining people lives all over the world every year. Even though there is no way to stop these, we can try and help those who lost everything. Helping them get back onto their feet is a huge step in the process of rebuilding their lives.

Voyage in...48 more days

December 28, 2007 is the date. I will be leaving for Italy with my best friend Kaitlyn. Having been to Italy before doesnt make it as exciting, but this time i get to bring my best friend which is pretty awesome. I go to Italy because my father was born there, and has moved back since his life here 11 years ago. He lives there with a majority of our family, and his wife and two kids. My half brother and half sister are there and come here in the summers to visit and i go in the winter usually.
When i go in the winter i hopefully will be able to go to a few other countries and visit all around. I am definitly looking fowar to it.

Puggles

A puggle, your probably wondering what is that? Well it is the mixture between two breeds of dogs. A beagle and a pug. Weird combination but the cutest puppies. They are small about 15 pounds if that, and are sandy in color. They are the cutest puppies and I just got one yay! The other day my moms boyfriend was given her because a family could not take her because their son is really sick. So yay for me i got to have her. Shes so tiny i love her. She sleeps all day which is awesome. I was not sure what to name her, so she had no name for a while. One of my friends finally came up with the perfect name for her, Twinkie. She is named Twinkie because her fur is sandy color, and her belly is white.. Hints just like a twinkie! Its very cute and perfect for her. I already have a dog named Bella, hopefully she wont mind too much. :)