Report # 581

I'm super late getting this entry posted -- that's what happens when I end up talking on the phone for almost four hours before bed ! I had my accounting course on Friday and afterwards I just stopped at Tim Hortons and came home and went for a walk before it got dark. It was the first day in a long time that it was actually dry outside, so I really wanted to get some exercise.

On Saturday I rented a bunch of movies from Blockbuster, stopped at Tim Hortons, and vacuumed the entire house. Since its been so wet here the past few weeks, the dogs bring a lot of mud into the house, and its really hard to get them cleaned off all the time. Molly has been finding ways to get out of the yard lately, so I've had to keep her and Parker in all day since I don't want her to escape.

She's even found a way to open up the sliding door when its not locked by standing up and placing her two paws on the glass and putting pressure on it. At least that's what I think happened seeing as when I came downstairs the other night the door was open, and I would never have left it open. She still has been chewing things around the house that she can access, but she hasn't been too bad. Looking after two big dogs certainly is a lot of work !

Before bed on Saturday night I watched In a Dark Place, which was a horror type movie about a live-in nanny looking after some children and they apparently see people they know that died -- it was interesting. On Sunday I went to the Fleetwood Arms Pub with my grandmother for brunch. It was very good like always and I had enough food for the whole day.

Afterwards I headed over to Amanda's house and we went out for a bit. Later in the day I helped her with an assignment she had for class. She had to do two 15 minute counselling sessions, so I just was the person involved. For the 2nd recording I ended up playing an alcoholic -- lol I hope I sounded like I really was one ! I don't even drink, but I just imagined how things could be for someone who does have a drinking problem -- it was very interesting.

She got an A - on the first interview assignment she did -- and I was there for two half hour sessions that time ! Hopefully I'm done with these mock counselling sessions though. I don't mind helping out, lol but I feel kinda phoney trying to act out an issue that doesn't affect me whatsoever. Later in the day I just headed home and relaxed for most of the evening.

At around 10:00 pm last night this girl that I've talked to for a few days gave me a call and I just thought we'd talk for like half hour before she went to bed, but we ended up talking for almost four hours. I can't even remember the last time I spent that long on the phone -- and I think I've only done that about once or twice in my life before. She seems like a really nice girl and she thinks of me as a "nice guy" -- though that hasn't seem to gotten me anywhere yet !

I'm sure we'll do something one day soon and just see how things go from there. It would be great just to have a good friendship and have things just slowly evolve naturally. I won't get my hope up too much though, seeing as I've had long conversations with people before -- just because I talked on the phone with someone for four hours doesn't mean I'll be dating them ! I'm sure I'll have more details to post up here as the days go by, I'm just hoping that things go nicely.

I worked today from 11:00 am until 7:30 pm. I was talking to this new guy at work today, and gosh some of the people I end up meeting just are the most interesting people out there. This guy told me that his brother sued him for injuries he sustained in a car accident while his brother was driving. About a month ago I talked to a guy and he said he was arrested after a high speed chase with police that he apparently didn't even know he was in.

I've also talked with other employees in the past who have somewhat racist attitudes, who say very shocking things -- such as someone in a car accident who died deserved to die. I just have to wonder where the company finds people like these. I'm sure none of this sort of stuff comes up in the interviews, but the things I'm hearing from these people are absolutely insane. If anything it makes my day a little more interesting hearing about some of it, but stuff like racist comments I don't find acceptable at all.

After work I just stopped at Tim Hortons on the way home and that brings me to right now. I have to get up a bit earlier tomorrow morning so I can head to school and work on my accounting homework that's due at noon, and also check out the answers for the second midterm so I'll be able to study from it for the final exam. If I have time I hope to be able to watch one of the movies I rented seeing as it was supposed to be back today.

I thought Blockbuster got rid of late fees, but then they started something where a person can choose either a two day rental or a seven day rental, and I brought back a couple of movies that were two days rentals late a while back and I was charged almost seven dollars, so it looks like Blockbuster has snuck in their late fees again. They must really be tight on money !

Just over a month ago former US president George W. Bush was in Montreal giving a speech to close to 1,000 individuals, mostly business people, who paid close to $ 400 to hear him speak. Good old George started off by saying "I believe in free speech - just not today." That line right there I think speaks so much about Mr. Bush himself, someone who was a lousy president but a good comedian.

I have to wonder if the close to 1,000 people who attended his speech were out of their minds though. Seriously who would pay around $ 400 to hear anyone speak ? If someone came into town that I wouldn't mind hearing speak (though not sure who that would be) I would pay at most like $ 50, and with that would hope dinner would be included as well !

sources: Toronto Star, star.com. "Police fend off protesters at Bush speech in Montreal" Canadian Press. Oct 22, 2009.

A lot of former world leaders, CEO's and other notable individuals have gone on the speaking circuit, travelling all over the place charging extraordinary fees to be heard. Do these people really think so highly of themselves ??? From what I've heard, former British Prime Minister is someone who has been making a hell of a lot of money from doing speaking engagements. And then of course there is another former US president doing the same -- Bill Clinton.

I can see that people who have lived lives that others would find interesting to hear about in an intimate setting would be very willing to hear these people speak, but I think they are going overboard in spending hundreds of dollars to be there. I seriously would hope that these people doing public speaking are using the majority of the income they earn for charitable causes, but I somehow doubt that.

I know that Bill Clinton has a charitable organization and has done lots of good work with that, but I imagine he's still pocketing millions of dollars a year just from speaking engagements. Ultimately if people are turning up to their speeches and are paying what is asked, than why would they bother lowering the cost ? I'm sure hardly anyone actually even thinks about anything to do with this subject, I just find it so interesting what people will do to make money if they think there is an audience out there willing to hear them speak.

I do think the whole speaking engagement idea is a good one, and its neat that so many people that others want to hear speak, have interesting things to say and are willing to travel all over giving these speeches, I just think the costs should be lower. By keeping their fees so high, they are showing themselves as individuals who at first were supposedly leaders for everyone, but have now morphed into ex-leaders who only want to associate themselves with upper class individuals and a bunch of elitists.

So what would I do if I was someone who had lived a life of great interest and was to travel around and give speeches ??? I would give speeches that the average person could afford to attend, and I'd give the majority of the money earned to charity. I think someone who is going all over the place giving speeches just to put money in their pockets is selfish and doing it for the wrong reason.

I hope that all of those former world leaders, CEO's athletes, specialists, or whoever else are giving these speeches are really doing so because they love to share their stories with the public and are wanting to make money to help very crucial causes. Is this happening for the most part ??? Of course I really have no idea, but seeing as this isn't a perfect world I'd say no. What a thought that is though...... that there could actually be people out there giving speeches and doing so because they love to talk to people and use the benefits from that to help the less fortunate...if only that was the case.

Anyways, here is the next question:

What do you think of former world leaders, CEO"s, and other notable people travelling to different cities and countries giving speeches that cost hundreds of dollars to attend ? Do you think the individuals are giving speeches because they love to share their lives and experiences and raise money for charities, or mainly to pocket the money themselves ? Is there anyone you would pay to see speak... who and how much would be too much ?

Once again I went overboard with the question of the day -- seeing as I put up enough questions for an entire essay ! I hope that the week has started off well for everyone. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Report # 580

Hey everyone, I hope you are all happy that its Friday ! I wanted to have this entry up and posted hours ago, but I got caught up talking to someone pretty late last night so I just ended up going to bed seeing as I had school today and I didn't want to be overly tired. The last few days have zoomed by incredibly quick and now November is almost gone thankfully ! It will be really cool for 2010 to start soon as well, its such a nice numbered year.

On Tuesday I had my accounting course followed by my business math course in the evening. I had accounting again today and we started the final chapter in the book. So basically I just have all of next week and the week after left of classes before exams start. I have three more homework assignments for accounting and just one quiz left for business math, so for the most part all I'll have to do is study study study.

I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:00 am until 7:30 pm and didn't do too much of anything exciting after either day. The battery in my blackberry has been acting really weird. For a few days in a row it would die within 8 hours which it never ever would do unless I talked on it all day long. I figured I would have to get a new battery, but today its still basically fully charged, so I don't know what's up with it. I'll give it another week and if it has another day of dying super quickly I'll have to look into getting a new one.

On the way to school today I phoned the dentists office and booked an appointment for next Friday. Its hard to believe but this will be my first visit to the dentist since late November of 2007, so two years ! I've been seeing the same dentist since I've been in elementary school so I imagine one of these days he'll retire. He must be in his 70's now, but he still works a few days a week. I'll have to do lots of flossing over the next week to make sure I have my teeth in good condition !

Molly has been escaping out of the yard lately. My brother fixed the area he thought she got out, but I came home from a walk today and she was in the front yard, so somehow she managed to get out again. Its never a good thing seeing as its dangerous if she runs off. I hope we can find out where she is escaping and all the possible areas she can escape and get them fixed up to keep her safe.

Parker still has his cast on his back leg, but he runs around so much I don't think he's allowing it to heal at all. I suppose its a good thing he is so energetic, but I really wish he would take it easier on his leg. My parents are still in Jamaica but they'll be coming home on Monday I believe. One of these days I'll have to make it to a foreign country seeing as I would love to go. It would be really cool to be able to work abroad somewhere for a while, so if I ever had that opportunity I would probably take it.

Today was like one of the first days in forever I haven't seen any rain come down. It wasn't as sunny as I thought it would be, but at least it was dry. I was able to go for a nice walk after school for the first time in a while so that was nice. I know that just because it rains doesn't mean I can't take an umbrella and go for a walk, but I never seem to like being outside walking while its raining.... I'll have to just get used to it if I want to get more exercise.

I met one girl a couple of weeks ago and hung out with her basically twice. In the end she just seemed to be someone that doesn't like affection, is big on partying, and very big on sex. She asked me to come over on Tuesday, but I just couldn't do it. I don't believe in having sex with someone just for the hell of having sex with them. She didn't like it when I tried to cuddle with her, she drinks way too much, and she just likes sex a lot -- so probably not a good fit for me.

I stopped trying to look for someone exactly like me a long time ago seeing as such a person doesn't exist, but I can't accept someone who is that much different. I want to be with a girl that likes to cuddle and be held, not someone who can't stand those things yet will have sex whenever possible. I want someone who likes to go out and do things together and get exercise, not someone who just wants to go out and drink and party.

She continued to text me for a few days, and said I should apologize for saying certain things, and I admit I did cross a line and was overly harsh on her. However I was just frustrated with the whole situation. She seemed like such a cool person, and to find out she basically obsessed with drinking and having sex was very disappointing. I put in a lot of effort to meet the right person and have things work out, so when they don't its very draining for me.

I've started talking with some nice girls in the past few days though, so once again I could end up meeting someone super special one day soon. Of course I've thought this way for a number of years now and nothing has worked out yet, so I realize nothing is a given. I'm not trying to imply that its all the other person's fault these things don't work out for me, its a whole bunch of reasons.

Sometimes I meet people who I don't end up really liking at all (my own fault) and other times I meet people who don't even like me at all. And then of course the ones who just want to be friends, and sometimes that's what I think with people as well, and the ones who just want to sleep around. I also have met sooooo many people who just end up being near impossible to stay in contact with and get any answers out of. They are super busy and they just don't have time for anyone -- I can't stand people like that !

No matter what is going on in my life, if there is someone I like I'll be in touch with them. I don't care if I was in a car accident, a relative dies, someone tries to kill me (lol not like that would happen) or whatever -- I'd be in touch and at least tell that person what's going on. I just don't think its fair to the other person to be unavailable all the time. If that's the case that person shouldn't be out looking for a person to be with in the first place.

So hopefully something comes up with one of these people and I can type up something positive about my dating life on here for once. Anyone who is in a relationship should be very happy with the person they are with and be proud of the fact they've been able to get to that point, because it really is not easy. And harder yet I'm sure is for two people together to be able to keep something going long term.

I see this as a major challenge because unless two people are absolutely crazy about one another or they just settle to be with someone just for the hell of being with someone (which I think is stupid) chances are they'll be some obstacles along the way for the couple. I know I have so many other issues to worry about in my life right now, but I would just love to be able to be with someone. I wouldn't be obsessive or anything, and I would totally want my alone time, but having a relationship is something I'm ready for and have been ready for a very long time.

I've always been someone who enjoys the simple acts of affection such as holding hands while out walking some place, cuddling up and watching a movie, falling asleep in someone's arms, and of course hugs and kisses. And while I would imagine making out and all that more serious stuff would come naturally at some point or another in the relationship, its not stuff that I'm huge on. I've never been a very sexual person, so clearly there are some people out there that would overwhelm me !

Of course I don't want to get married anytime soon ! Just over four years ago I posted an entry about people marrying young, and I still think a lot of what I wrote that day makes sense. So yes I still think people who get married at young ages are absolutely insane !!!!! I wasn't even going to talk about relationships or anything today, but since I've spent so much time blabbing about it now I'll have to postpone what I was going to write about until another day.

Here is the next question:

What do you think makes relationships successful ??? Why do so many relationships fail, and what can anything be done to avoid failure in relationships, or is it inevitable for some ???

I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

Report # 579

Looks like we've all gotten through another Monday, so hopefully everyone is in a super good mood heading into the rest of the week. I had a pretty simple weekend and really didn't do too much. On Saturday I took the bottles into the depot and then picked up some groceries and an order of chicken udon noodles from Village Sushi. Before bed I watched No Country For Old Men. I thought it was a very good movie but the ending left me pretty puzzled. It was one of those movies that ended when it was not expected to end.

On Sunday I helped Amanda take the laundry to the laundromat and stopped at Tim Hortons as well. It was another dark, dreary and wet day, so once again I didn't make it outside to go for a walk. I watched Trade before going to bed. It was a great movie but really sad as it addressed such an important issue that I don't think is discussed enough or dealt with seriously enough: human trafficking (which I'll get into in a minute)

I worked on Monay from 11:00 am until 7:30 pm. The power went out halfway through the first break, so everyone just stayed in the lunch room for an extra 20 minutes until it was turned back on. After work I just stopped at Tim Hortons and then just came home and relaxed for the rest of the night. I have my accounting and business math class today and this begins what will be the last month of school so I have to be ready to give my best effort ever for these two courses in order to be successful.

And now back to human trafficking. Its just very tragic that so many innocent women and children are kidnapped, treated so poorly, and sold for lots of money to sick individuals who will have sex with them. People like that should be in jail for life with no chance of parole ever. I really think more people need to be aware of the fact that human trafficking isn't something that just takes place in developing countries with women and kids from those countries, but its literally everywhere.

I think a far greater effort needs to be made to not only make sure everyone is aware that human trafficking is taking place, but to be able to sense something if it seems out of the ordinary. Governments around the world need to be aware of what sites are on the internet as if its anything like the movie, there will be sites online devoted to the sale of the women and children who have been abducted.

These sites need to be shut down immediately and whoever is responsible for them needs to be punished as harshly as they possibly can be punished seeing as this is no minor crime, but something that is just absolutely horrific and disgusting. The movie had a good ending for the most part, I just hope that good endings happen in real life for those individuals who are in trouble.

Its one of those things that makes me wonder how there can be such sick people in this world, but it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone anymore as this sort of stuff has been taking place for many years. And while the movie I watched specifically dealt with human trafficking for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation, human trafficking also involves people being used for labour practically becoming slaves.

I find the human trafficking involving the sexual exploitation to be by far the worst kind there is, but that doesn't mean that human trafficking for other purposes is any less of an issue. There is no perfect solution to combat this very serious problem, but I think if all of the countries of the world could come together and sign into an international agreement on combatting human trafficking that would be a great start.

Seeing as human trafficking is a global issue involving people from many countries around the world shipping around people all over the world, there can't be a very effective response to combatting this issue if each country went at it alone -- global teamwork is needed ! I have to admit before I saw this movie I really didn't know much about human trafficking. I had read about it in the paper a few times in the past, but I don't think I ever realized the severity of it all, and the important of understanding of what is going on.

So to everyone out there who is in the dark about human trafficking I strongly encourage you all to do a little research and learn more about this very unfortunate happening in our world. The more people who are aware that this sort of thing is taking place the more likely it is that somewhere alone the line someone will notice something is not right somewhere and some positive action can be taken.

If anyone is interested in learning more about this issue in depth, a great site is http://www.humantrafficking.org/ as it seems to be a great site filled with information from many different countries. Anyways, here is the next question:

Were you aware of human trafficking taking place ??? What do you think needs to be done to combat this issue ???

I've finally managed to get pictures of all the pets. My next task will be trying to get a new profile picture for me seeing as I've had that one up since the summer. I hope that the next few days go well for everyone. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

Shelby

Chance

Tango, Bubbles, Googles

Molly

Parker

Report # 578

Hey everyone, I hope you've all been having an awesome start to the weekend. Its another cloud filled day here with what I'm sure will be lots more rain. I worked on Wednesday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm and then again on Thursday until 7:15 pm. After work on Wednesday evening I noticed I had received a call from the guy who I met at the information session at school for the management training program and he said to give him a call.

I called him on Thursday morning before work and he basically said that I wouldn't be a good fit for the management training program. He went on to say that if I wanted to apply for a job in January that they were going to be hiring at the Langley location, but that would be for a different position. At first I was a little disappointed, but after realizing how things have gone with this company for the last couple of weeks, I really think I deserve a little better.

Not to act like I'm way above and beyond anything, but at the very least I think I should be afforded the luxury of dealing with a company that operates professionally, and in this case I don't think that happened. After the information session a few weeks ago it sounded like it would be a good opportunity so I just handed the guy my resume. I sent him an email early the next week saying that I would be interested in pursuing. He got this other lady to sent me an email, and she arranged to come in for an interview.

On the phone he said that the interview "didn't go that badly." Well he wasn't even there, though it wouldn't have taken long for the lady to explain to him how it went seeing as it was under 10 minutes. Not once during that interview was I asked a question like "Why do you want to work for us ?" or "If we hire you what would you bring to this company ?" or "What are your strengths ?" or anything like that.

When I was talking to the guy on the phone he said that they have really high standards, which he said the very first day during that information session. Well there is nothing wrong with having high standards, but personally I think that lady conducted a lousy interview and there is no way she could get a real read on what an individual would bring to the table based on how she conducted that interview.

And what makes me mad about all of this is that I was never told by the lady who actually interviewed me anything. I heard nothing from her for over a week. I sent an email and she said that someone would get back to me the next week, which they did, but that was almost another week ahead, and by the time the guy on the phone told me all this stuff it was two weeks from the time of the actual interview.

So to anyone out there Guillevin is a very unprofessional company and the guy I met had a real arrogance about him going on and saying how the company was recession proof and putting down other jobs and careers. As much as I would have wanted to start with something like this, I can say that if that's how this company conducts themselves on a regular basis I'm glad not to be a part of it.

And I'm not just going all off on this company and the people I met with because I didn't get the job. Even if I had been given the opportunity, I still would have been frustrated by how long they took to get back to me, and no matter how I look at things the interview I had was a joke. I would have far more respect for this company and the two individuals I met with had they just talked to me a day or two later and thanked me for coming in and said I wasn't really what they were looking for, but that's not what they did at all.

I never asked the guy why they thought I wouldn't be "a good fit", so I can only speculate. My resume had nothing related to the type of position it was at all, so that might have had a lot to do with it. And if they had applicants who were totally through with school, chances are they would have went forward with those people over someone who is still taking courses. That brings me to another issue I can complain about this company about.

They were hosting their information session at the university, so the only people who would be walking through those doors, and while I was there I only saw one other guy come through, would be CURRENT STUDENTS. So the fact that they were mainly looking for people who were done with school at a school itself was pretty stupid. The guy said they tried career fairs and stuff like that but no one found the job interesting (as it deals with electrical products) compared to a lot of the other careers available there.

Anyways I could go on and on, but I'm not going to bother, I've bitched enough about those unprofessional and arrogant slackers for one day. So after writing this and posting it I"ve guaranteed myself a less than zero percent chance of ever working for that company, and that is perfectly fine with me ! I'm probably better off to finish off this semester before really getting in-depth with applying for jobs.

As much as I'd like to get a head start on things, its a draining process, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize myself in terms of passing accounting and business math. Speaking of business math, I wrote my second midterm on Tuesday evening. The instructor posted the grades online the other day and I found out that I got 56 %. So obviously not a great scorce, but that's a 12 % improvement over my first midterm.

I just have to put in a much better study effort for the final exam, and I definitely will, and I will be through this hellish course. And as I've passed everything in accounting I just have to do put in a super study effort for that final exam and I'll pass that course as well. I actually got 9/10 on the last assignment.... first time all year I've done that. The great thing is that unlike past semesters my midterms are exactly one week apart, so that's just amazing news for me.

I'll be able to study super hard for my accounting final on December 15 and get that over with and then have nothing to worry about but the business math final on December 22. So I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for these courses, and the ball is totally in my court to take that final shot and make it go in for the victory. I'm in a much better position overall to pass both of these courses than I've been in the past, so I'm looking forward to putting in my best effort of all for both of them and take them down for once and for all.

After work on Thursday evening I stopped at Tim Hortons and relaxed most of the evening, watching American Gangster before bed. It was a very cool movie, especially knowing it was based on a true story. Of course its very unfortunate that so many people ended up dying and there was widespread corruption in the New York police force back then, but it was a very interesting movie to watch and I thought it was very well done.

After school yesterday I went over to my grandmother's house for dinner. She made my favourite food which is a Romanian dish that I have no idea how to spell ! On the way home I stopped at Starbucks and picked up a chocolate chip frappuicino and then headed over to a friend's house for a few hours. We ended up watching Obsessed, which was a very interesting movie about some woman who stalked a man as much as possible.

I've already been to Tim Hortons this morning. On the way back home I saw my accounting teacher driving the other way about to make a turn. I'm like 99.9 % it was her seeing as it totally looked like her and she had the school parking pass hanging in the car. Its always kind of unexpected to just randomly pass through people when its least expected. When I got home I vacuumed the house and now I'm not too sure what I have planned for the rest of the day.

The weather here has been absolutely crazy. The other night it was incredibly windy around 11:00 pm, and it was like 13 C outside. (55 F) And then last night it was pouring rain again and there was some lightning and thunder as well. Some areas have been flooded and have some emergency warnings going on, but everything here has been fine, though it would be nice to actually get a sunny day with no precipitation at all one of these days.

Its interesting to see certain commericals on TV or advertisements in newspapers, magazines, or even billboard ads in transit stations and at bus stops. It goes to show that marketing is everywhere, no matter where we look. Even out driving in the country I'll see signs for a hotel or restaurant -- even for a fast food chain, advertising that they have a location in the next town ahead. So whether a person is downtown, in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a bus, or even sitting at home reading the paper, they are exposed to certain advertisements.

A lot of time these advertisements will feature a well known individual, whether it be an actor/actress, singer, athlete, or whoever, marketers want to use that individuals "star power" to persuade people to buy. I've never really understood this really. Are we as a society so shallow that such advertisements will really convince us to buy a product just because a well known personality uses that product ???

While this may work on some people unfortunately, I can't say it would work on me. For example if I wanted to buy a Buick one day I'd buy a Buick because I'd want to drive a Buick, not because Tiger Woods was used by Buick for a number of years in their advertisements. Honestly I don't care if Tiger Woods drives a run down pickup truck from the 1980's.... he can drive whatever the hell he wants !

Not only would I not buy a Buick just because Tiger Woods was featured in their ads, I wouldn't even take those ads seriously. As far as I know Tiger Woods is a golfer, not a car expert. So if I was an avid golfer and Tiger Woods was used to advertise a certain type of clubs, there is a good chance I wouldn't buy those clubs just because he is advertising them, but I'd be far more likely to take the marketing campaign seriously seeing as Tiger Woods probably knows what he's talking about when it comes to golf clubs.

A few years ago I think I saw that Kevin Federline guy, and yes I wish I didn't know who he was, but thanks to stupid media people I do, rapping in some commercial for something. I don't know what that company was thinking... how is someone like that supposed to sell products or generate business ??? Just another example of advertising dollars well wasted.

At least for some of these commercials I think they make sense, like for example if they have a young actress or singer featured for skin care products. In this case a lot of people have the same issues with their skin and have pimples pop up, so at least in this case its known that the people using the products actually have a great use for them as well.

So I do think in some cases there are good fits to have known personalities in advertising campaigns, but seriously a lot of times I think its nothing but a waste of money where the only thing benefitting from them is the bank account from the person endorsing the product. And that brings me to what its all about for all parties involved..... money.

These so called movie stars and singers and athletes aren't signing endorsement deals to better the world or to help an already super rich company get richer, all they care about is putting more cash into their bank account and in some cases getting themselves more publicity. So I do think they are just a bunch of puppets paid large sums of money by huge organizations to hopefully improve that company's sales.

I can imagine times where there is a benefit to both the company and the person getting endorsed, but no doubt a lot of times the whole campaign ends up being a total waste of money. I love hearing about how some company has someone endorsing their product, and that person does something so horribly embarassing the company is left stratching their head about what to do with that person -- just ask Kelloggs what that's like ! Hopefully no company was endorsing Michael Vick, that could have been a mess.

At the end of the day a company cares about its profits more than anything else, and they'll do whatever they feel they need to do to make more money. Whether its endorsing some singer and getting them to wear all of their products, or whether its using an overly self obsessed athlete in a bunch of commercials, it will be done and no doubt be continued to be done for years.

At least one of the good things about the economic situation of late is that a lot of companies have cut down on their endorsements, so hopefully we all won't be smothered with such sloppy advertising that probably doesn't work too well anyways. Its unfortunate that so many people just sell themselves out to large corporations just so they can pocket a few million more dollars a year from what they already earn.

Hopefully for the most part these advertising campaigns are tuned out and not deemed successful so that those companies can cut lose their expensive puppets and get back to what advertising should really be about...... convincing consumers that what is offered is the best product out there. If their product really is the best and its at a price that makes sense, people will buy that product anyways, regardless if Lebron James, Britney Spears, or some other individual on a quest for media attention use it and get paid to say so.

At least people like Sean Penn know what they do for a living and don't try and capitalize on self promotion and marketing opportunites as he has said before in an interview with Rolling Stone:

"People are spending too much time modelling for some f**king company instead of acting, and I resent it. It's like, 'Are you going to do the Chanel ad today ? I thought you were in the middle of shooting a f**king movie." Just let me know if you mean it. I want to know you're trying to write the great American novel every time. Fail all you want, but f**king try." - actor, Sean Penn (from contactmusic.com)

That's such a refreshing thing to read, and I'm glad at least one actor thinks that way and has the guts to go out and say it in such a direct manner. Anyways I've written way too much for one day, so here is the next question:

What are your thoughts on "celebrities" used in advertisements and having endorsement deals ??? Do you think its beneficial to the companies who use them, and do certain advertisements featuring known personalities convince you to try out a product or service you otherwise wouldn't have planned on trying ???

I was going to post some pictures of all of the pets today, but Parker is at the vet having his leg checked out, so I'll have to wait until next entry seeing as it wouldn't be the same if I didn't have a picture of Parker to put up ! I wish everyone all of the best. Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

Report # 577

Hey everyone, I hope that you've all been having a fantastic week so far. Its been absolutely soaking wet here the last few days. Its rained so hard that I've seen some flooded farm lands and roads and some cities have really been hit hard by the heavy rainfall. Not only that its been super windy as well the past few days, and there are leaves and broken branches all over the place, so its super messy outside.

I was supposed to go out for dinner on Sunday but plans got changed, so I just ordered some California rolls and some chicken udon noodle soup from Village Sushi. Afterwards I picked up a blizzard from Dairy Queen, so I definitely treated myself well ! I was able to walk around a bit while waiting for the food to be made, so I got some good exercise as the rain had stopped for a while.

When I came home I watched the last movie which I had rented from last week, The Tournament. The movie was just about a bunch of assassins from all over the world who gather every number of years for a tournament to see who is the best by being the last one standing - it was entertaining so it ended up being a good movie that I rented.

I worked on Monday from 11:00 am until 7:30 pm, though I didn't actually get off until close to 7:45 pm. Work ended up being super busy, stressful, and frustrating. I'm really, really, really hoping that someone from the company I interviewed at contacts me this week like they said they would seeing as I've had enough of this job and I'm totally ready for something new. More importantly though I just need to start something that is actually a career.

My parents headed off to Jamaica on Monday, so they are gone for two weeks. Just like last year when they went to Mexico, I'll probably post some of their scenery pictures on here when they return. If I can't go myself, I might as well take advantage of some of the pictures they took. On the way home I stopped at Tim Hortons to get something for dinner and then I got my chapter 9 accounting homework finished.

I had my accounting class yesterday afternoon. I really was terrified at seeing what my mark for the second midterm would be seeing as I figured I absolutely bombed it, but I ended up getting 55 %, so I passed ! Obviously that's not a great mark, but all I want to do is pass this class, and to be able to pass that midterm was very important. I've done the calculations and I'm sitting at around 61 % for the entire course, with 53 % of our final marks still to be decided, so I'm at an alright position heading into the final exam with a few homework assignments left.

So for the final exam I'm going to have to put in an even better study effort than I did this time and make sure I have full knowledge of all the concepts for the entire course seeing the final has absolutely everything on it. There is a lot of work to be done in the final month, but at least I'm sitting in a much better position than I was the previous time I took this course and got around 33 % on the second midterm.

After accounting class I headed over to the Langley campus and studied for my business math midterm. I honestly have no clue how I did on this one. I thought I did decently on the last one, but I only ended up getting 44 %, so I'm really hoping I did much better this time around. I will be very happy with anything over 60 %, and of course anything under 50 % would be a complete disaster. The teacher did say that students typically do a lot better on this second midterm than they do on the first midterm, so I am hoping that ends up being true for me.

I finished the exam a little early and headed home, stopping at Tim Hortons on the way. I relaxed for most of the evening and now I'm ready for another two days of work.... not that I'm really looking forward to them. Every now and then a new song comes out that seems to get played a lot on mainstream radio stations becoming popular among many people, and in a lot of cases also become huge club hits.

While many of these songs may have catchy beats and tunes that people like listening to, I find the lyrics in them to be really quite trashy. For example I'll take a song that's been playing a lot lately.... Tick Tock by Ke$ha, who for some reason spells her name out like that. I've heard the song a number of times on the radio, and while admit it does have a very cool tune, the lyrics in her song are certainly interesting.

In the song she references getting drunk, high and drunk (apparently called crunk) as well as talk about police officers coming in to "shut" them down. So basically to me the whole song describes the lifestyle about a bunch of trashy young people getting together and going wild on alcohol and narcotics. Of course its just a song and the artist can really sing about whatever they want, the fact is a lot of people in high school, and even elementary school will end up hearing this stuff.

They'll no doubt find the tune catchy and enjoy the song, eventually noticing the lyrics of the song. While I'm sure the song is relatable to a number of people out there, I think its unfortunate that someone has to come up with a song about the most trashy details of the human lifestyle. When young people and kids end up listening to this sort of music and thinking they want to live a life like that -- something is seriously wrong.

While Tick Tock isn't the first song to reference the use of drugs, I just was using it as an example. I'm sure there area number of other songs out there that talk about sex and drugs and alcohol and all that in great detail. I'm not trying to say that all music needs to be sugarcoated and its wrong to write and sing about this sort of stuff, I am just saying that when songs about a lifestyle of drinking and doing drugs as its some sort of fun thing to do are played regularly on the radio, something is not right with that.

Sex is sex and that's a natural part of life that kids and younger people will understand, so that's no big deal, but glamourizing a lifestyle about clubbing and partying while getting hammered and stoned is not cool. As I said at the beginning, I find this super trashy and stuff like this belongs on trash TV, not in the mainstream public media. So while Ke$ha certainly has found some fame and gotten her song played on the radio, I would hope that the clock tick tocks on her trashy lyrics and she comes up with something of greater importance to write and sing about.

If not I can imagine once a few months have passed she'll join a whole list of singers from over the years who popped up with some catchy tunes with no lyrical substance such as whoever the hell wrote that Milkshake song, and that cause I got high song. They'll slowly be pushed out into the back burner of people's minds and eventually carried away into the past all as one hit wonders.

For the sake of society I see this as a good thing as there is nothing clean about promoting trash. If anything I think these type of songs show us that there is a disappointing part of our society that lives the partying lifestyle filled with lots of alcohol and drug use, and as long as they have an outlet to express themselves they'll continue to do so. I'm hoping that most people will see these songs for what they usually are -- lyrical trash with catchy tunes !

Anyways, here is the next question:

What are your thoughts on songs like the ones I've talked about today ??? Do you agree with what I've been saying or do you think I'm totally off base or have just gone overboard and created something out of nothing ???

I wish everyone all of the best for the remainder of the week. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.