I think as we sink deeper and deeper into the “recession” people just find more ways to get creative with their crimes and blame their stupidity on the “recession.”
Latest Act of WTF — HOlding someone up with you MACHETE for some Tacos.. Really though? You just were walking down the street with a Machete and no one noticed???
But right.. where the hell were you at that 16 tacos cost you $41? At Taco Bell 16 tacos is only cost you like $25 bucks. And like the crazed knife weilding criminal ran out of a building, stole your tacos, and drove away? Why wouldn’t he take the tacos back inside, because obviously he was hungry. The logic of some people will never be right to me. This is just bananas. Watch you back on your late night drive thru runs, I’m just saying!
Since I’ve been able to vote I’ve been exteremely aware of my elected officials. I’ve voted in every election that I was able to and always encouraged my friends to do the same. Yesterday was the NJ gubernatorial race, and the two candidates (because independents don’t reeaaaalllllyyy count) were John Corzine (the incumbent) and Chris Christie. Well, I cast my vote proudly for John Corzine on my lunch break.
I don’t really check the polls until they are all tallied, and after the tally, Christie was elected the next Governor of my great state. Frankly, I’m definitely disappointed in the low voter turnout in NJ, when so many people claim to be upset with the Status Quo. If you have a problem, use your voice! This is what the nay-sayers have done. They used their voice and voted for whom they thought was right. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that Christie is the right candidate and it has nothing to do with his political party!
He makes claims that he wants to fix the state budget and he has a problem with unions, like the Teachers Union. So pretty much, he will fix the budget on the backs of our teachers, seniors programs and children. And everyone is up in arms about property taxes going up during Corzine’s term: NEWSFLASH- Governors aren’t responsible for your property taxes, thats your county government. Another election you people have skipped out on!
If people can remember the last Christie in NJ politics, also a republican, you’d remember that she put us into a giant Hole. She never funded the State workers Pension Fund. She left this State in Shambles. she single-handedly did more fiscal harm to NJ than any other NJ Governor When Corzine was elected, he was in a hole so deep that he had to cut 5 Billion out of the State Budget. He also removed 50% of the tolls on the Garden State Parkway. People are saying they want a change in NJ, the Soprano state, well you’re definitely going to go in a different direction, but it won’t be good.
I think I feel this election more seriously, having close ties with a major state school, and seeing how Corzine rallied for protecting jobs there. Joblessness in NJ is high, around 9%, but it still less than other states battling the same problems. For state employees, pay freezes and Furloughs have saved many jobs, including my own. We’ll see whats ahead in the years to come, but I definitely don’t see this as being easy.
One more thing people keep doing that is annoying. Stop trying to relate this failure back the President Obama. Seriously?? Corzines failure is his, not the presidents.
Happy Election Day! I hope everyone went out to vote in their local elections! These are the MOST important, and many fail to realize that!
Happy Quarter Century to my BFF forever!! Love you sister girl!
And now on with the flow!
Prelude: Chris, baby, What are you wearing.. I hope this is a rough sketch. Don’t be a part of the skinny jeans epidemic!!Or even so, I could get over that, but this album cover has no cohesiveness. You can’t have the punk rocker guitar skinny jean look, spraying those little bugs with that little can of RAID. The graffiti should be bigger & bolder, and lose the shades!!
1. AHH!! The epidemic of hysteria regarding Swine Flu totally has flown right over my head. I don’t get hysteric about too much of anything, and this is one of them. I have never had a flu shot, nor do I really plan to get one now. Swine or otherwise. And frankly, I’m tired of hearing about it. I loved this blog on it! Check out Kimmie!
2. Seriously? Rihanna is Woman of the Year? What has she done beside walk around dressed like a hooker enjoying the sympathy given to her by the people who think she was “victim” of domestic violence. Her style? Credit her stylist. Her songs- credit Ne-Yo and the Dream. What a waste of page space. Seriously Glamour – Do Better. (via egotisticegotism)
3.I too LOVE Tim Burton. Him & Johnny Depp make sweet melodies I always enjoy. They do no wrong to me! I’d never seen any of this stuff though. I feel like I just got my Christmas Gift!
4. This was dope. Boys 12 as young as 12 saying they don’t like black girls really. The situation isn’t dope, but her experience and relating to it was great. A long, but worthwhile read if you as me. Part 1 | Part 2
I have a few more things I might save for later, I need to read it over a little more thoroughly! Hope you enjoy!
I hope everyone gets over Hump Day! Here’s a few Why’s for Wednesday. Add you own! I used to do this with a book club I belonged to. It’s very relaxing!
1. Why did Amy Winehouse get implants? This looks horrible. My eyes can’t take it! Check the before and after man!Thing is, I think she has the potential to be pretty. Shoot, others look worse!
2. Why do people fuel pseudo celebrities? Like seriously, because Tameka Foster-Raymond, or whoever she is, keeps feeding the media, she seems to think she is famous. Honey you’re not. And neither are half these other people. Why won’t they just go away. Audacity . REAL celebs don’t call people at home.This is why you’d never be famous! Speaking of Pseudo celebs, why everyone gotta pick on Khloe Kardashian? Saying how she’s the ugliest sister? She’s a cute girl, and idiot, but still cute. I hate that picture they have up all over the internet of her in that horrible red lipstick. She shouldn’t be allowed to do that!
3. Why do I like Chris Brown’s new video, but I’m not totally sold on the song? Maybe its because of Wayne. I’m so not into him. But I love C.Brown. He’s getting older now too, so I don’t feel so pervy!
4. Why is R.Kelly still making music that tries to attract 16 yr. olds? That song, Number 1 is whack. Shoot yourself.
5. Why did yahoo auto draft me Shaq? I hate Shaq! Even worse, I hate listening to him talk.
6. Pogo.com’s Battle ship is utterly addicting. Why do I spend many hours playing this new game. Salvo style please and thank you!
I’m being very informative this week! I guess with all the things going on, you can never have enough knowledge on how to make your life simpler by avoid money problems! Today’s topic:
Credit Cards!
The bane of your existence if your under 30 and got those cards while you were in college. I know that I sometimes regret the day that I signed on that dotted line! Or better yet, that I had been better advised on credit card etiquette.
Yahoo! Finance had this great article on how bad are your credit card mistakes, you know what mistakes I mean: paying late or the bare minimum, missing a payment, or just having a slew of cards for no reason. They rated all these bloopers on a scale of 1-10 to give you an idea of how bad your doing! Now, some of these are no-brainers, but others are kind of shocking!
Most Shocking:
Debt Settlement Plans – they rank at 9.5 on the BBAADD scale! Did you know that while yes, this helps you pay less back to your debt, you also take a tax hit? Apparently, it counts as income during that tax year AND you credit will be tarnished! According to yahoo, next to bankruptcy debt settlement is the most negative thing you can do to your credit score! WOWZERS!
Cash Advances – these rank at an 8. I have yet to take a cash advance on a card, and from the looks of this, I won’t be anytime soon! What always scared me was the alarming higher interest rate on them, but apparently you also have NO grace period.
Not so shocking:
Maxing out your CC – HELLO! that isn’t rocket science. Every one knows that! On this scale it ranks a 7. This impacts your credit score, apparently pretty heavily because 30% of your score is based on “credit utilization” — the amount of credit you’ve used relative to the amount you have available!
Having too Many Cards – Guilty as charged! AT one point I had to get rid of a few because they left too much room for me to act up! While this doesn’t really affect your credit score from what the article says, it does say that it isn’t worth your wild to have all those cards because 1. you’re not getting enough value from the card to make it worth the high interest rates. 2. additional complications from additional bills and junk cluttering your inbox and 3. You’re likelihood of missing a payment is higher and the potential for identity theft!
There are a few more on this list, so I definitely think this is worth the read! Check it!
Newest Scam for college kids: being target for “illegal downloads. ” An apparently bogus collections agency that sent out letters to Bucknell students demanding $500 to settle the students’ alleged illegal downloads. Seriously! That’s crazy. Imagine that 10 people actually paid that $500. That’s an easy 5k for some scammer. TAX FREE!!! And who is really going to contest that email they get about illegally downloading something?
Scam!! It’s a scary word and a scary practice. Scammers are ruthless, they don’t care how they get you, as long as they get you. And as time goes on, those scams just get more elaborate.
Other scams for college Student’s are pretty common: Fake scholarship promises, crazy student loans, diploma mills, and other websites that sell you cheating supplies (which is just stupid!) Why would you spend THOUSANDS of dollars on education, just to spend more money faking it through? This is why the value of a college education is dropping, and most jobs require Masters Degrees now. Value your education people.
For more reads on the 6 scams that target most college students check it out!
With every new phenomenon in social networking, researchers are always trying to figure out, or categorize the users and dynamics of why and how it works. The latest internet craze, Twitter is no exception. Friends, who are not users, are always asking me, “What is the point?” or “How does it work?” and I always find it hard to explain. Twitter is something you have to use to understand and see why people like it. This study, done by Professors Naaman and Boase of Rutgers University (RU Rah Rah!!) did a study that revealed their are 2 types of Twitter users: Meformers or Informers.
It’s obvious what an Informer is: They use their tweets to post messages that contain information, like news links. Meformers post what they call “me now” messages. These messages update a users followers about what their thoughts, location, or immediate situation. Sometimes these random thoughts are hilarious. I in fact, love a good random thought!
Meformers typically have less followers than informers. And Informers tend to be active in social awareness streams, and interact more than Meformers. Not all Informers though, sometimes you get news networks or companies that don’t respond (ahem *cough*) But some places are great, l ike @Zappos!
Other info I found interesting in the article:
# Informers have more friends and followers on Twitter than meformers (Informers had a median 131 friends and 112 followers compare to meformers median figures of 61 friends and 43 followers.)
# Females were more likely to post “me now” messages than males. (Forty-five percent of females’ messages were “me now” compared to 37 percent of males’.)
# Posts from mobile devices were more likely to be “me now” messages than posts from non-mobile applications. (Fifty-one percent of mobile-posted messages were “me now” compared to 37 percent of non-mobile messages.)
# Informers mention others in their messages more often.
What am I?
I think I’m a combination of both. I don’t typically share things that I find are already being spread by others, people hate redundancy. I do share info I find new, exciting, or just plain strange! I do go a bit personal sometimes, but I don’t want to seem like a drone while tweeting.
What are you?
1. Want to be a Wine expert? Me too! I happen to LOVE wine, and I’m all for having the right wine for the right occasion. Except, my dilemma is that I hate red wine! But, like the author said, “Every adult should be familiar with wine, even if they do not drink it.”
2. Would you get a piranha pedicure? Part of me finds this midly intriguing but utterly gross!!! What do they do with the fish while they change the water? But I just really want to know how smooth are your feet when its done? Will some people still need that razor later??
3. Need a Plug Rug? So, when I go out and I need to hide things – tampons, cameras, ID and the like, I just stuff it in my cleavage. But I guess not everyone is as fortunate and they need a plug rug. Get them while they’re HOT!
4. It’s a Wheel? It’s a Hampster Wheel? It’s a bed? Yes, that’s right, this is a cool, ROCKING bed! This would be great for getting that perfect angle to watch TV on. And maybe a few other good uses. The site is in some other language, Dutch or German, so I can’t find the price, good luck with that! Consider it your own persona cloud!
I came across this wonderful list online yesterday about the most popular books being read on the NY subway. Now, I don’t live in NY, but I do live a hop, skip & a jump away. Whenever I find myself in NY, and on the subway, I absolutely MUST have a book with me. There is nothing more awkward than being on the subway, with nothing to do, and looking around trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Eye contact is definitely a no-go!
The Survey was taken in the Fall of 2009 and does reflect some of whats popular right now. I’ve only read a few books on this list, but some are on my To-Read list. Some are currently movies and some are not. One is written by a fellow Rutgers Graduate. Have you read any of them?
1. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (I said I would read this when the hype died down. I am not a big fan of reading what’s trendy right now.)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. The Time Traveler’s Wife ( I heard the book was better than the movie.)
4. Infinite Jest (Never heard of it)
5. Netherland (???)
6. The Onmivore Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (This actually sounds really interesting– Following 4 meals as they come to fruition.
7. Twilight (guilty, but I refused to buy it! I only read it when it was won free. And it’s for research purposes! I swear!!)
8. My Life in France
9. 2666
10. Anna Karenina (Classic, but I have to admit I never read it. I said I wanted to, but it hasn’t made its way to my house yet.)
For the rest of the list check it out at FlashLightWorthybooks.com. One of those listed I find hard pressed to believe people are actually reading this on the subway, but I guess its true. Weird but true.
I guess Anita Tedaldi never thought she’d have her name spewed across the internet news pages. But when she decided to write about giving up her adopted son to a new home after 18 months, she opened that door.
Short Story Short: Anita has 5 kids, a husband in the military, and decided to adopt a child. She said she’d always wanted to adopt, and didn’t go into it blindly. She became the proud mother of “Baby D” when he was just under a year old. After 18 months with D. she found that she could no longer be his mom because they were having “bonding” issues.
After reading her blog about the ordeal, I get the sense that she did really care for him. I don’t think it was about race, as some have claimed.I think her family (read, her biological kids & husband) didn’t bond with him, and that influenced her decision. On D.’s last day, her daughters barely waved goodbye,
My daughters were watching SpongeBob and said goodbye to their brother almost nonchalantly, as if he was just going out for a bit and would soon be back.
And her & husband fought over this issue. I think its sad that this situation happened to that poor child, but he is still much better off than many other children in his situation. He was adopted by a different family and hopefully he will be treated fairly and with love there.
It’s been awhile since I’ve spread some Sunshine, but I’m back at it! I’m definitely going to try and make this happen more frequently. In fact, I vow to make it more frequent! So, now I can be held to it. I’ve been straying from what I wanted to do here. Now, Back to the master plan…
1. First up is my girl @JessDubb with her blog about a late night Twitter Conversation. This is definitely not for those who are under 16 and who don’t enjoy a great sexy conversation! LOL. Check it!
3. Luxe Kultur is giving some tips on being a guest to the party. I liked this, it also reminded me of Kitty Bradshaw’s party etiquette. I enjoy hosting & being hosted. In fact, when are my bff’s gonna host me?? I need a ladies night out!
I gave myself a one week deadline to have this post ready and boy am I cutting it close. I wish I had more pictures of the actual event, but of course in my haste to be on time, I left it. Next Time there will be more event photos!
Kitty Bradshaw, Gap Brand Enthusiast
I am so happy to say that on Wednesday August 12th, I was fortunate enough to celebrate with the Ms. Kitty Bradshaw, Gap Brand Enthusiast for her 1 year Blogiversary! This was my first,of hopefully many, blogger event. In case you haven’t been over to www.Kittybradshaw.com I suggest you do so immediately. Kitty gives us her New York Life from her California perspective. Being that I’m from Jersey, being hip to things in NYC is a must have. She also does reviews, shoes, and so much more. And we all know how much I love shoes.
Gap Jeans and South Pole flats
Kitty and I went shoe shopping together a few months ago, and that was DANGEROUS!! We were bbaaddd for each other!! My pockets are still recovering! Which is why I want to do it again! I loovvveee a fun shopping buddy. Kitty has also been a mentor to me in this blog world. She gives me great advice on how to make my site a success. I <3 Kitty.
Kitty Bradshaw's sponsors
Ok, so enough about Kitty, on with the party!! Th e party was held at Nightengale Lounge in East Village in NYC. Nightengale is on the corner of 13th and 2nd Ave, just a few blocks from the 14th St. PATH station. It was cute, quaint, and best of all cheap! They had happy hour drink specials which included my $5 cosmo and my $4 well drink (bay breeze w/ vodka)! (For those that don’t know what a well drink is, its house vodka or rum mixed with a juice or soda). Kitty gave out some great gift bags, featuring Gap Jeans & South Pole shoes. My bag also included some Almond Cookie lotion from Carol’s Daughter, a soy candle from Yum Yum Candles, and Sprite Green
Kitty's Born to Fit Gift Bag
In addition to racking up on some HOT goodies, I also met some cool new people! I met some of the guys who work at Cake Man Raven (infamous for their Red Velvet Cake), I met Serious Bok of LuxeKultur.com, Tamina of TheMinaScope.com, and Jamilah from TheBeautifulStruggler.com. If you get a chance to check them out, please do! I didn’t get a chance to meet every blogger there, but I am working my way down the reference sheet and checking their sites out.
Maybe one day soon we’ll be having an equally FAB celebration for Cleo Sunshine!!
I don’t care if anyone else accepts your apology. I do. I feel that no matter what you tried to do to rectify the situation, at any period in time, you were going to face criticism and possible further backlash. I am placing no blame on either you or Rihanna (although I do not think she’s completely guilt free) for what happened in that car. I know that only you two know what really happened. I believe if you did hit her, which you don’t deny, it was with probably cause. I firmly believe that if a woman hits a man, she should expect to get hit back. It’s playground rules, you get punched–punch back.
Sorry, but I digress. I think your apology was well versed and done well. People may outcry over the “scripting” of it, but I know that it needed to be that way. Anyone who believes that any sort of speech isn’t scripted is special and doesn’t deserve their comment voiced.
I hope that you can get past this and continue on your musical journey. I wish you well, and hope that you destroy that weird MJ tribue shirt you were wearing. It was more of an eyesore than the standard lawyers office blinds in the background of the video.
GL,
Cleo.
********
I know CB will never read this cuz I’m just a little old blog in blogville. But let’s go on the hope that he seeks out a letter from a not crazed 13 year old, then maybe I might get read… just maybe!
This cop is a STRAIGHT asshole!! I love how he’s not a racist, but the most recent incident he can remember was in 19 fucking 93!! Anyone who can say “oh I helped a black person then” or “i’m not racist I’ve got a black friend” is seriously some what of a racist. UGGGGHHH!!! arsehole! OH, and he said he will NEVER apologize
I’ve been away for the past few days, so I’m just now getting to discuss the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. Does everyone know who he is? If you don’t I’m going to suggest you use your Google function quickly! Skip over the recent news articles and find a quick bio, ok!
I don’t really need to get into what happened because most people know by now that Professor Gates was arrested at home after a cop reported to his home for a possible burglary. I think it’s a sad shame that we really don’t live in a post racial US, but to anyone who that’s a surprise to, they need a wake up call.
Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct — what the arresting officer described as “loud and tumultuous behavior in a public space.” I’m sorry, I thought home was private? Since when did someone’s home become a public space? And why did the cop feel the need to arrest him after he showed ID that that was indeed his home? What was the point of continuing questioning after you had verifiable proof that this was the homeowner? This is why so many people share the epitome that cops suck. They really do. They go on serious power trips. They make the few good cops look bad.
Gates was quoted as saying
“We depend on the police-I’m glad that this lady called 911. I hope right now if someone is breaking into my house she’s calling 911 and the police will come! I just don’t want to be arrested for being black at home! I think this was a bit of an extreme reaction.”
The cop refused to show his identification and escalated a hostile situation. He got arrogant and Gates got defensive. It happens many many times with cops. It really sucks that the cop won’t even apologize. I despise people who can’t admit their wrongs. It’s so unattractive. Just admit officer, your a po po in the well known racist area surrounding Cambridge, Massachusetts. You saw an opportunity to exercise the power of the blue shield & used it. UGH.. lemme go on..
I think I’m more upset about some of the comments and things I’ve read on sites like Detroit Free Press and others. Some posters wonder why you would ever question or get snarky with a cop (I didn’t know cops had the right to be bastards???). One poster said he hopes his home really does get robbed, things of that nature. His case is up opening up dialogues about racial profiling and affirmative action. I love to hear dialogue about subjects like this from knowledgeable sources. But when people begin to make blanket statements like “there’s money for blacks to go to college just for being black” I want to jump through my computer screen and smack that person. I hate when people say that black people are given jobs just because of AA. What fucking world do people live in?
Right now the biggest people profiting from Affirmative action are Hispanics. I really do see it AND believe it. Many under barely qualified people are getting jobs just because they can speak two languages. I’m a firm believer that to survive in America you need to speak English. Im sick of getting sent 2 copies of every damn document because people refuse to learn it. It may sound crude or whatever, but hey it’s how I feel.
Back on track, if blacks were given priority then why do they have the highest rates of being being laid off in these “hard economic times?” I don’t believe any person of minority – of any minority- who says they’ve never been stereotyped. It does still happen. I witness it more often than I’d like. I don’t even have to time address this foolishness. I’m going to go watch my recorded Black in America 2 w/ Soledad O’Brien.
So, Newsweek published the Top 1500 Public Schools in America this week. I kinda didn’t really pay any attention to it until today, and guess what! 48 of the Top 1500 are in NJ! Yes, that’s right the state that most movies & people mock is cranking out schools worthy of your attention! Too bad my high school wasn’t included, but hey we can’t have it all! There was one from a neighboring town though. Check it out!
85 McNair Academic | Jersey City
170 Millburn |Millburn
175 Ridge |Basking Ridge
198 Bernards |Bernardsville
210 Princeton |Princeton
303 Cresskill |Cresskill
378 Demarest |Demarest
416 Governor Livingston |Berkeley Heights
419 Summit |Summit
452 Glen Ridge |Glen Ridge
474 West Morris Mendham |Mendham
498 Ridgewood |Ridgewood
510 West Windsor-Plainsboro | South Princeton Junction
520 Leonia | Leonia
556 North Hunterdon |Annandale
568 Cranford |Cranford
578 Kinnelon |Kinnelon
608 Holmdel |Holmdel
663 West Morris Central |Chester
678 West Windsor-Plainsboro |North Plainsboro
713 Haddonfield |Haddonfield
733 Voorhees | Glen Gardner
735 Chatham |Chatham
795 Old Tappan |Old Tappan
811 Montclair |Montclair
841 Watchung Hills |Warren
844 Mainland Regional |Linwood
869 Westfield |Westfield
896 South Brunswick |Southport
930 Fair Lawn |Fair Lawn
946 Cherry Hill East |Cherry Hill
970 Madison | Madison
1014 Mountain Lakes |M.L.
1048 Columbia |Maplewood
1075 Bridgewater-Raritan |Bridgewater
1111 Rumson-Fair Haven |Rumson
1118 High Tech |North Bergen
1156 East Brunswick |East Brunswick
1183 New Providence |New Providence
1203 Northern Highlands |Allendale
1224 Wayne Hills |Wayne
1245 Ocean Township |Oakhurst
1277 Cherry Hill West |Cherry Hill
1324 Johnson |Clark
1332 Hackensack |Hackensack
1360 Somerville | Somerville
1404 John P. Stevens |Edison
1449 Wayne Valley |Wayne
1454 River Dell | Oradell
For the whole list or to even look up your state check it out HERE
Dope. Crazy. Perfectly Imperfect. I'm not the best writer and probably not the worst either, but I am happy while doing it. Stick with me and you'll never be bored! I mean, maybe you won't and maybe you will....
