All You're Doing is Paying for the Name

As many of us may have been a culprit of this act one time or another, buying expensive brand name items is unnecessary. I am sure that we would all like to have the most expensive, brand name items, but in reality, one can buy an extremely similar item for less than half of the price of the real thing.

At NIU I see girls walking around in Ugg Boots, Coach purses, Tiffany's jewelry, Gucci sunglasses, and other designer high price items. I am sure most females have these at least one of these items, if not all of them. All of these luxuries are not necessary to purchase.

Below are links to pictures of a real and a knock-off Coach purse. Although each purse is a different style, the print is extremely similar. Prices of real Coach purses range from $128.00 to $700.00, while knock-offs range from $20.00-$60.00. That is a big difference in pricing!

real Coach purse

knock-off Coach purse

With the money that one would save from buying the cheaper item, he or she would have money for other items, or would have money to save. Both of these ideas seem a lot smarter compared to blowing all of the money on one item. As many people continue to pay a great amount of money for authentic items, they may want to remember one thing. All they are doing is paying for the name.

"It's Awesome Baby with a Capital A"

Yes sports fans college basketball is back for another rollercoaster of mid-major upsets and bracket busters. If this season will be any indication of the preseason exibitions, get your popcorn ready, because it's going to be a show. Small schools like Gardner Webb have knocked off preseason top 25 teams stiring up questions of who will stop Florida from becoming the first team to make it three straight titles. The late rounds of tournaments were filled with school not predicted to even make the tournament this year. #10 Duke Knocked off Marquette in the Maui Invitational. #13 Michigan State nearly lost to Mizzou. The past four seasons we have seen schools that are known to be stepping stones for the BCS schools like Gardner Webb, Univeristy of Wisconsin Green Bay, and Gonzaga have placed themselves in contention to make a run at the National Championship Trophy with appearances in the rounds as far as the final four. Unlike college football the mid-majors receive an automatic bid for winning the competition. Though these schools rarely receive a top 25 ranking in the first few months of the season, the fact that they have the chance to be there the end of the year takes all emphasis off the number one ranking. How about this, Since those members of the NCAA Board who run Basketball allow all teams fair chance to be called champs they help run football and everyone will be happy.

College Tests are Insane!

I understand that this is college and the amount of work is going to be increased and studying needs to be taken seriously, but I feel like no matter how much I study for certain tests, I just can not do well. For instance, I recently took a philosophy test. I go to every lecture and do well on the assignments and quizzes. The first exam I took I received a seventy two percent. If it was not for a fifteen point curve, then I would have failed the test.

For my second exam, I studied with a friend one evening, and another afternoon before the test. I thought I knew the concepts fairly well to where I could get about a B on the test. While I was taking the test I felt like I did not learn anything that was on the exam. I tried to complete the test as best as I could. I got my test back with a sixty three percent written at the top. I was immediately discouraged because all of the time I put into studying was a waste of time. This test was curved about 4 points, which did not help much. I was figuring on getting an A in that course, but because of this low test score I am at a high B. If I stay at the B I will have to take the final, which in my eyes, is not going to be any better than the test I just got back. So what am I suppose to do now?

Coms is another class that I can not do well on the tests. I went to a three hour review session before the first test and only got a C. The next test came around and I studied the material that he posted on Blackboard and got a C again. My overall grade is at a high B, with the possibility to get an A. There is a one hundred fifty point final, and if I can get a high score on that then I can get an A in the class. Looking at my previous grades after studying, it does not look too likely that it will happen.

These are two courses that I am just a couple points away from getting an A, but because of complicated exams, I am not going to be able to do well. Hopefully these courses will have a small curve so I can reach those A's that I have been trying hard to get.

Christmas Break!

I can not wait to go home for Christmas break! I come from a family with five kids and my two parents. If you have ever watched Everyone Loves Raymond that is a good show to compare my family too. My grandparents live across the street and are constantly dropping by. My aunt, uncle, and cousins live five houses down. Our family is always around and I love it, it just gets a little crazy. I have two older sisters who don't live in the house any more and now I don't either so just my sister and brother do. I love the holidays because everyone is together and we always have so much fun. On Christmas eve we all go to my grandmas who is the typical Italian and makes way to much food and makes three different kinds of pasta. We then always end up playing some type of crazy game like mad gab. Then we all walk home, since everyone that goes lives on the street. As we get home it is a tradition since we are little for all 5 siblings to sleep in one room. I love it because things have changed over the years and everyone is getting older but Christmas always ends up being the same every year. We wake up Christmas morning to a tree full of presents and my mom makes an amazing pancake breakfast. I can't wait for Christmas break!!!

Keep Thy Religion To Thyself

It really bugs me when religious people try to convert me over to their ideas. I’ve gotten in too many arguments with religious folk to count. I understand that most of them are just trying to be nice and save my soul from a fiery eternity in hell, but enough is enough. I’ve discussed the concepts of religion with: Priests, Ministers, Pastors, Rabbis, and mocks; so far there are just too many inconsistencies for me to get behind them. Religion is pull of backward teachings and ambiguous fairy tales; the funny thing that I’ve ever seen is a Pro-War, Pro-death penalty Christian. I was under the impression that the Commandment “Thow shalt not kill” was pretty clear. But what scares me more than the teachings of religion, are the followers of the religion. Those people that when I ask "why are you that certain denomination", and they respond “because my parents are.” That bothers me to no end, especially when they are old enough to where they should be thinking for themselves and not simply acting like cattle and just moving with the crowd. I say "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" to them. So please don’t try to convert me anymore, I’m willing to discuss matters of religion but get over the fact that I probably won’t agree with you. You know, Sadists do have one thing going for them that I agree with and follow. It’s their eleventh satanic rule of the earth; “When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.” Have a nice day.

What Channel was it on?

Thursday night the 10-1 Green Bay Packers faced off against the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys in what was promised to be one of the best games of the year between two of the best teams in the league. It did turn out to be a pretty good game where the Cowboys won 37-27, despite Brett Favre getting hurt early on. Not that I would know much about the game anyways because it was nowhere to be found on television. That’s because the game was on the NFL Network which only a few select cable and satellite providers carry. For a game of this magnitude this game should have been on Monday night football, or Sunday night football on FREE channels. Instead they stuck it on a Thursday on a channel that so few people get. Maybe the NFL didn't think these two teams would be this good at this point in the season and it wouldn't matter as much; however the NFL has "flex scheduling" now which allows them to move games around to put the better match-ups on prime-time television. The NFL has already moved two New England Patriot games to prime time later in the season because of their quest at a perfect record. All of this in turn probably turned potentially one of the most watched games of the season into one of the least watched of the season. It’s a shame so many people missed this game. The NFL, NBA, MLB should remain on free television so diehard fans don't have to pay extra money on ridiculously overpriced packages on Comcast and DirecTV just to watch their home team play.

Playoff in College Football

This year has been one of the most exciting college football seasons ever. There is so much parity in the sport that any given school can be beaten by any given school on any given Saturday. This is evident by the six teams who lost to unranked opponents at the time they were ranked second in the nations polls. Missouri came out of nowhere and is now the number one team in the nation after beating previously unbeaten Kansas on Saturday.

Now more then ever College Football needs a playoff system instead of the ridiculous BCS. For those of you not familiar, the BCS is a computer bases ranking systems that decides who gets to play for the national championship. Currently the match up would be Missouri versus West Virginia, but there are so many other teams who are just as talented that deserve a shot at the national title. Teams like Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Kansas all deserve shots at the national title. I propose a 8 team playoff where the top 8 teams in the BCS rankings play in a playoff formated system. Winner takes all. Instead we have controversy year in and year out about who the real national champion is. For all the College football traditionalists who think that the Bowl system should not be messed with, just think about all the deserving teams who have missed there shot at a national title because of one regular season loss.

Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun, Mexico on October 21, 2005. According to Andrew Gumbel of FOREIGN NEWS, Wilma reached a category 5 storm making it only the third hurricane to reach that intensity. Hurricane Wilma created winds of up to 120 mph and formed a 10 ft storm surge that flooded the area’s beachfront. Wilma made landfall in the morning on Friday the 21st and began inching across the Yucatan Peninsula at 3mph destroying everything in its path. This hurricane was expected to last for 4 hours, instead it lasted a devastating 64 hours. Hurricane Wilma finally stopped hovering over Cancun and made its way to the Gulf of Mexico, heading straight for Florida. Wilma left with 40 cm of rain and an unrecognizable city.

When Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun, it caused severe damage. The tourist strip, “the hotel zone” of Cancun was affected majorly. 24,000 luxurious hotel rooms had disappeared. A 13 kilometers stretch of beachfront was washed away. The famous soft white sand had vanished, exposing a line of ragged rocks. Wilma also affected the homes of hundreds of thousand Mexican residents. Robert D. McFaddan from the New York Times said, “In Cancun, 50 hotels and hundreds of homes were damaged, public buildings were crumbling, windows were shattered and a coast known as a tourists' playground overlooking a turquoise sea was transformed into a vast region of danger and destruction.

In the Yucatan, at least four deaths were reported, two in a gas tank explosion in Playa del Carmen and those of a woman electrocuted in Cancun and a 69-year-old man killed by falling branches in a neighboring state. The number of injuries in Mexico was unknown, as was the extent of property damage, but it was widespread and expected to run into many millions.” Hurricane Wilma killed a total 63 people in the Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and Florida.

Here is an amazing video that shows the damage caused by this horrible hurricane: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mwjngRyJ5Zw

Mud Bowl

Last night marked one of the worst football games I have ever watched in my entire life. It took place between one of the best teams in the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the winless Miami Dolphins. To start off with, the game shouldn't have even been played in the first place. It had rained a massive amount before the game and was still raining during the game causing horrible playing conditions for the players. Nobody could get any footing because the playing field was so bad. You could barely see the lines on the field marking the yard lines. The grounds crew had to come out constantly and poor massive amounts of dirt to try to dry the field up. Chunks of the turf were seen all over the field, it was extremely dangerous. At one point during the game the Dolphins were punting and when the ball landed it just stuck in the ground. Anyone who watches football knows that shouldn't happen, the ball would always take a bounce one way or the other. All of these factors played into one of the most poorly played games I have seen in a while. The score was 0-0 in the 4th quarter with under two minutes remaining when Steelers kicker Jeff Reed hit a field goal to give the Steelers a 3-0 victory. Earlier in the game Jeff Reed kicked a field goal and missed it horribly to the left because he could not get any footing. Overall this was a horrible game and the NFL should not have let them play due to the bad weather conditions.

Sean Taylor

Today the Washington Redskins lost a great person. Sean Taylor died today just a day after being shot at his home in what is believed to be an armed burglary. Sean Taylor was drafted in the 2004 NFL draft and was on his way to becoming one of the best safety's in the game. He was selected to his first pro bowl last season, and was on pace for his best season as a pro this year. The name has been in the media a lot in the past for mistakes that he had made early on in his career. Sean was arrested for being drunk while driving in 2004, but charges were eventually dropped. Then Sean was sentenced to 18 months probation for allegedly pulling a gun on two people the following year. Other ways you may have heard about Sean Taylor in the past would be maybe when he spit in the face of Tampa Bay Buccaneer player during an altercation on the field, or maybe it was when he leveled a punter in the prob bowl for what seems no reason. According to the people that new Sean the best he was just starting to mature and become a man. He had just had his first child, and it had seemed that he really got his life back on track. Millions of people around the world are saddened today as they learn that Sean Taylor's life was cut short at the young age of 24. It is important to know that all people make mistakes in life, so to remember Sean as a immature football player at times would not be fair. Instead you need to think about all the good things he has done and the fact that he was really starting to change his life around. And for this Sean will always be remembered as a great football player, but more importantly a great guy. To learn more about this sad story click on Sean Taylor to find out the latest news.

Devin Hester

Devin Hester added to his resume Sunday night, and showed the NFL once again why he is the most feared player while on the field. Hester returned a punt early in the 3rd quarter for a touchdown like he has done many times before, but still the Broncos didn't get it. Later on in the game he returned a kick for a touchdown to bring the Bears back into the game. Without these unbelievable returns the bears would have been out of this game early on. Not only did Hester have 2 returns for touchdowns in this game, but he also was the reason Charles Tillman was able to block the last punt of the game that ended up giving the Bears great field position. By giving the Bears such good field position it allowed them to score a touchdown in the final seconds to push the game into overtime where the Chicago Bears finally won the game. The reason that Hester was the only reason this punt got blocked is because had Hester not been back ready to return the punt, there would have been no reason for the punter to run to the right after getting the ball desperately trying to kick away from the feared Devin Hester. Also Tillman would have most likely been blocked had not all the line already started running down field to try and stop Hester when he caught the ball. It is fair to say that Devin Hester won the game for the Bears, and maybe even saved the season giving them a shot at the playoffs.
What Hester has done in his first season and a half is amazing. He has returned a kick for a touchdown 10 times in his first 27 games as a pro. The only other people to do this have 12 returns for touchdowns, the only difference is it took them well over 100 years to get there. To keep up to date with all of Devin's stats click on HESTER.

My New Job

I just got an acutal job. I've always had seasonal jobs that are kind of pointless and aren't the best way to make and keep money. Over the winter holidays, I would work at Bergner's at Cherry Vale Mall for a program called friends and family. All I would do is walk around the store and straighten up clothes for a good five hours. BORING! Then over the summer, I work at Magic Waters Waterpark in guest relations. This is an awesome job that lets me do pretty much anything I want. Everyone is the same age, including the bosses, so you can't really take the job in our department very seriously. Your pretty much getting paid to sit and talk to your friends while selling a ticket every so often.

Well now, I got a job that I have to take seriously. It's at the Rockford MetroCentre. They just renovated it by adding VIP boxes. I got the job of being a waitress to all the VIP people that bought a box. There is a total of 13 boxes and have 4-8 seats in each. The best part is that the MetroCentre holds many concerts and games. The Rockford Icehogs (our hockey team) plays there about 3 times a week. Brad Paisley, Rodney Atkins and Taylor Swift held a concert there last week and I got to work. So I got paid to see the concert! Kelly Clarkson and Reba are coming in Febrary. There is also the Globetrotters and boxing events! I got $8.75 an hour plus tips. At the Brad Paisley concert, I made 75 dollars! I was pretty excitied. The only problem with the job is it is 45 minutes away from NIU and I do not go home that often because I do not have a car here. So, I work when I can, which they are very flexible with. Overall, I'm extremely happy I found a job that I can take seriously and still enjoy!

http://www.centreevents.com/default.cfm?&bhflver=5
http://www.shopcherryvalemall.com/shop/cherryvale.nsf/index
http://magicwaterswaterpark.com/

Weather

I could not tell all of the people that think it is cold out right now that it is not really that cold out. We all could be in Minnesota where at this time of the year they are getting ready to make outdoor ice at parks for people to skate on. One thing that you do have a right to complain about is the wind. It always seems to be blowing and fast to no let up. Have you realized that the wind stops at night. I think that it should bow at night in stead of during the day. I think that the state of Illinois should invest in some trees to plant around the campus so that we have something that is able to block the wind some times or at least slow it down so it doesn't almost blow people over. One more thing the wind is coming from the north it means cold weather, if it comes from the south it means warm weather, if its from the west it usually means rain or precipitation and if its from the east it means a nice day. Think about that.

Country Thunder!

For the past four years in a row, my friends and I have been attending Country Thunder that takes place in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin in July. For those of you that don’t know what this means... it means five days of pure live country out on a farm plot. Big names show up and play during the week- some include, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Big and Rich, Sugarland and many more!

Every summer I look forward to Country Thunder! I have a cabin in Twin Lakes just two miles away from the event. We stay all week at my cabin and have a blast! Every time we come back with such crazy memories! I really feel like a big family during this week because it’s all us kids without parents trying to cook, clean and watch out for each other.

When we get to the event, it is so much fun. We get all dressed up in our cowboy/ country outfits and sit on the grass and just listen away. Almost every year, during performances, it rains and thunders! It gets to be a lot of fun there! Everyone is so happy and you can meet and relate to a lot of people there, everyone is so nice. During the rain it starts to get crazy! Drunk people are sliding down the hill and get all muddy! It’s a riot!

I could talk for hours about Country Thunder! Its so much fun! For any country fans out there, I totally recommend going to Country Thunder. It is the best week ever! To check out more about the event, visit the website at http://www.countrythunder.com/

I CANT WAIT ANYMORE.. BRING ON CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas is only 29 days away and I am super excited!!! This time of year is my favorite, I get so pumped up! When I woke up after Thanksgiving, the first thing I did was sit down in my basement, lite a fire, and watched my favorite Christmas movie, Polar Express! I just love how you can be all cold and cuddle up in the blankets with a nice fire going!

Another fun thing about Christmas is snow! I love the snow and I cannot wait for a ton of snow to be on the ground! I love to go sledding and snowboarding! We have a church with a big hill by my house that we like to call "Church Hill." Every time it snows, thats where everyone in the neighborhood goes! All ages from babies to older grown-ups are there making ramps or sledding. After being out in the cold all night long, my friends and I come back, change out of our wet and cold clothes and make hot chocolate!

After Thanksgiving our whole family helped out and put up our Christmas tree! I get so excited when we decorate for Christmas. I love decorating up the tree with lights and ornaments! We also put up the majority of our outside Christmas lights!

I enjoy this time of year so much! I do love summer, but winter is just the best!