My experience at Boston University

Boston University as you may all know is located at Boston, Massachusetts. It is among one of the best universities in the Boston area as well as in the USA.
I have been taking classes at the University this summer at the graduate level. What do I have to say about Boston University.
It is a great place to study, it is located near the Fenway park, there are many restaurants, bars and lounges around. So far I find the classes interesting, especially the people that you meet. There are people from all over the world, they are open minded, very nice and friendly. The administration is very helpful as well. They organized two events for international students so that we can meet and share a great time all together. The administration even offered free Red sox tickets to those international students who participated in the events that they had organized. The professors are very concerned about the students progress. You will not fell as one in a million but in the contrary as one who belong to a community who excel in what they are doing. I have taken three courses so far that I have given me the appropriate knowledge that I needed to acquire. It is not about coming to class and listening to the professor reading through the power-point slides. It is about interaction in the classroom, it is about the actual news that you hear in the media, it is about reasoning, giving your point of view. One class that make you think outside of the box is the Business communication for international students, where students have to write on going blogs about specific topics and also topics of their interest. It is about learning how to think proactively if faced by an impromptu situation. I give you an example of what we did, the professor called it, the elevator speech. Let's say you are in the elevator and your are face to face with someone who can change your life, what would you do? The professor was that person and we were us, doing the extemporaneously speech in an actual elevator. It was different, in a good way. We all had to do our elevator speech and learn from each other. That what I call great learning improvement, being able to be judge not only by the professor, but also by the students in the class and also having an activity that put you right in the actual place where you can really feel what you are doing instead of talking about it from other people perspectives.

BBQ on the Harbor

Today, Sunday the August the 3rd, I have organized a BBQ with some friends of mine at Harbor point not far from the Boston Expo. It was one of the best day in the summer so far. But just like every event we were faced with some difficulties.
So this event was planned two weeks ago, I had created an event on Facebook inviting most of my friends who are still in Boston. No one did reply to the invitation. I should not say no one but out of 20 people 5 did reply. I had talked to some you gave me their confirmation by phone. The plan was to have people either ship in $10 or bring something. Since I was not sure of the people who might come, I just plan with the people who had confirmed. Guess what on Sunday, people started calling another friend of mine who was organizing the event with me saying that they would be coming. We started worrying about the food, about the fact that we will have to pay more food, but finally decided that they should come with something instead of us buying more food and not having our money back. The BBQ was supposed to start at 2pm, but African time it means 5pm, and guess what people started to come at 4pm. By the time people started to come the meat was on the grill, we were enjoying our time, children were playing, guys were playing soccer, the sky started to cover up. We felt some drops but, heah, we did not want to leave so we wait for the rain to pass. It was just a small rain.
To conclude we had more people than expected, the food was enough for all of us, and the rain did not last too long, and I had a great day. Now I need to blog "like hell."

That' s my Earth

This song was sung by Christophe Mae from his album "Mon Paradis" released on 2007. This song is about harmony among human being.
We are all human on Earth who tend to forget where we are coming from and where are heading. It is convenient for us to lose memories but when there is a danger we look at the neighbor, that's is weird, without knowing that we left him on the side for sometime.
The chorus goes like this:
Is there a heart that rises for everyone to agree?
A heart that is going to carry on
Someone whose going to come to help
That's my Earth where I seat
That's the river, the water that I drink
No one better not touch it
That's my brother around me
My way and my only route
No one better not touch it
We feed more our fears by looking the other way
From our great values, which are only duties
What if we learn how to hold hands
Not seeing each other as strangers, who do not do anything, but fighting

Fear

What is fear? How would you define fear? How was it used before and how is it used now in every society?
Fear is defined as being afraid or scared of; be frightened of.
In different countries, Governments use fear to stop their citizens in doing things they would have done. The type of fear that are inflicted can be done in many ways. In some countries to reduce the degree of criminology, technique are being used to discourage the people to do any arm to others. For instance in some countries in Africa, if someone steal something, he or she will get his or her arm cut. If someone rape another person he will be killed in public. In some countries if the people try to rally against the Government, they get punish by going to prison or they can lose everything they have worked for all their lives. This type of fear is very radical and harmful to a person body, wealth, spirit, everything. There are other type of fears, the type that the Government does with more subtle ways and the people does not even know that they are being scared of. It is done through the media. The media tells the people all type of stories that just make the people stop from living.
They have been crime in this place, hundreds of people have died. There is a disease that is spreading around the world, it is a pandemic, we advise that no one travel, the market is very bad, people are losing their jobs everywhere in the world. Those type of information can be destructive to the persons receiving them. The persons feel scared of everything, fear to invest, fear to lose their jobs,fear to travel, fear about their children future. Fear, fear.
Compare those type of fear that I have just describe, which one is the most destructive. The one with no freedom, the one where your could lose your life or the one where you still have your freedom but not free in the mind.
In my opinion it is all the same, at the end of the day both situation create people who are afraid to live, afraid to lose what they have worked for all their lives, people who are afraid to give their opinions. Fear, fear.

Follow up

Good Morning, Ms Soundele,

My name is Akouassi Yao, we have met in the elevator last Tuesday at Boston University. I would like to thank you for listening to what I had to say about the business of mangoes that I operate in West Africa.
As I told you, I have been in the business for two years now. I have noticed a real interest in dry fruits from Westerners. The demand has been increasing due to the fact that people are more bias to consume healthy food. Mangoes are great sources of vitamins but are rare in continents like Europe and the United States.
My business is thinking of expanding in those continents. Europe will be the first target because we have already established a good liaison in countries such as France and Spain. The next target will the United States, which will be slightly difficult to enter because they already have their fruits from Brazil. I said difficult but not impossible. The marketing director and myself have come up with plan to enter the US markets and get some shares. One marketing plan that I can share with you, Ms Soundele, is that we are thinking of selling our products at a lesser price compare to the Brazilian products. Asia already produce mangoes and are the first in the world, but since the population in Asia is the most dominant in the world, they are always in need of importation.
As I shared with you, we sell our products to distributors and companies that use mangoes in their products. In Europe, Asia, and the United States we are targeting big companies such as Ben and Jerry, Hagen Daz, Kellogs.
I am contacting you to thank you for your time, and follow up with the proposal that I have made you about becoming a partnership. I have faxed and mailed you over the business plan of the company and would like to invite you on the farm so you could visit our facilities and discover from yourself what we do.
I will have my secretary contact you and set up a date and time at your own convenience for you to come. I will put my chauffeur at your disposition.

Sincerely,

Akouassi Yao

Favorite reading

Have you ever read a book that you could say had changed your life. I had. Two years ago, while I was on a lunch break, I decided to go to Borders and browse over the books. I came across one book, I read the title, "the Alchemist", I read the back to learn about the book, but I did not catch my interest. I kept on browsing and I finally decided to go for "the Alchemist" with no real motivation to read it. As I started reading the book, I could not stop and I finished it in three days. I was really surprised, I had never read a book entirely before.
You might wonder how this book changed my life. In many ways. First I was not the type of person who love loved to read. This book made me read, enjoy what I was reading and understand on my own how important it was to read rather than being stuck in front of the television. Reading allowed me to be more creative, imaginative, I pictured the word in my mind, and I really loved it. I t was like watching my own show. This book made me discover another way to learn English, which is through reading. Reading can really improve someone vocabulary, either it is the first language or not.
The story plot is about a young Shepard who goes in search of his personal legend. After reading this book I asked myself, "why am I here?", "what is my personal legend". The personal legend is our mission on earth, our purpose. I still do not know my mission, but I realized that I needed to set my own personal goals instead of following the dreams that others wanted me to follow. This book made a new person out of me. I started to read more and get more knowledge about life in general.
As the professor once said, write about what motivate you when you write your blog, it will help you better improve your writing and it will be less boring for him to read. The way I put it, do what motivates you in life in order to see you abilities and better improve them.

A Day Without the Internet

A day without the internet. Since the Internet exits, have you had one day where you could not use it, because of some problems with the connection for instance? Do you remember how you felt? On Friday afternoon, I decided to do my blog for the class that I am my taking at BU. While I was getting myself ready to log into the World Wide Web, I found out that my connection was not working. My first reaction was to call the service provider and I realized that I did not have my roommate's information, since the connection is under her name.I felt frustrated, as if without the internet, I could not do anything useful and I figured "what would I do if the internet did not exist? Nowadays, "people" creates needs that we need to have in order to fill our days. We feel as if we cannot run our lives properly without these needs that we have created.
The internet is great, it is a great tool to have information about anything that exists, but do we really need the internet?
If I have to do my homework and put it on the web, yes, I need the internet. But let's say this homework is not going to be published on the internet. Let's say it is a journal that we have to maintain throughout the course period. The research could be done at the Library, or just by spending couple of hours outside just observing our surrounding, the people around us and write about it. With all those new technologies, I think that we have forgotten the cheapest and more human ways to have an idea and write about it or even to find information. Interacting with people, going to the library, observing what around us can be a great way to look for information just as the internet.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

This poem of Robert Frost untitled "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" is about a man and his horse who are passing by a wood and the man wonders "whose woods these are". He stops to appreciate what he sees while being afraid to be seen by the owner. On the other side his horse wonders why his master stops by these woods where there are no "farmhouse near". The man enjoy the woods but have to keep moving because he has not plan on stopping now.
In my opinion this poem is about determination and focus. He is seduced by the view but deep inside he knows that he had made "promises" to himself and he knows that he should not stop at this point. He might feel tempted to stop and enjoy what is around him but the voice deep inside him, reminds him that the place where he is at has nothing for him and his horse to feed themselves or even to shelter. The voice of the reason in my opinion represents the horse. Since in the poem he says "my little horse must think it queer", but how does he knows what he horse thinks if it is not him thinking it.
In life we may have a vision about doing something and finding ways to realize this vision. But while we are on the quest to this vision,we might be tempted by other things on the way that we have chosen. Now it is up to us to get focus and have some determination in order not to be distracted and in what we have decided to pursuit.

Twitter

Have you heard about Twitter? It is a new social media service just like Facebook. Jeff Sommer talks with Claire Cain Miller about how small businesses use Twitter now as a way to advertise and reach out to a bigger audience and attract more customers.
It is said that Twitter is more exciting than the other social media services that are available right now. It is among the top three and the difference with Facebook is that people can follow without having to wait for an approval of the group or the person they want to follow.
Small businesses use Twitter to advertise as well as big companies. It allows big companies to see the complains of some of their customers and answer to them, and even give coupons.
Social media service has been used as a way to connect people from same interest and now it is becoming a way to make money. With this economy, big and small companies are trying to find opportunities to grow their businesses and reduce their costs. For now Twitter can be seen as the new Facebook, the new social network where everyone who is already on Facebook, for example, as to join.
I really do not understand the purpose of all of these social network services that are being created. There are basically no real differences, it is the same concept and people gets exited about it just because it is new and it is the new "road to take". All those social networking services are great, do not get me wrong, but if the purpose of all of them is the same there will not be any interest to actually join a new one. At first it was Hi5, Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter. For a company it make sense to have a profile on all those social media services, but for an individual, in my opinion it does not make too much senses. Companies also have to have in mind that those social media services have become popular while in the recession so may be after the recession when people will have less time to browse the Internet, all of these social networking services will fade out.

Elevator Speech

Oh! Good Morning Ms Soundele, how are you today? It is such a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Akouassi Yao, I own a business that operates in the region of Abidjan. We are specialize in buying and drying mangoes that we sell in supermarkets as well as ice cream shops.We are thinking of going international because the business of dry fruits is flourishing. We are targeting Europe, Asia and the United States because those countries have shown a lot of interest in dry fruits since there are healthy products. We are also targeting companies that use fruits in their products since those companies are concern about how to preserve their fruits. Right now we are looking for investors and since you already are in the agricultural business, it would be a great opportunity for you to invest in this growing company. We have been operating for two years now and our revenues as triple and we are getting more business. This is due to the fact that we are the only one in the country that delivers this kind of product.I will give you my business card so that we can set up a meeting at your own time to further discuss about this great investment. Can I have your business card as well?

Industry sector

Jeff Sommer talks with Louis Uchitelle about the manufacturing sector in the United States. The economy in the USA has been declining for the past years. It all started with the fall of the market due to different investment banks that were going bankrupt. Following the banks, the automobile sector starts to see some of its best going bankrupt, GM, Chrysler. In order to respond to this economical crisis, the Government started to step in by giving stimulus plan to those who were most in need, or "too big too fail". But the real problem, as it is said in the podcast, is that the USA consumes more than they produce, which create a trade deficit. The industrial production has decline to 17.3%, unemployment rate is still at its worse.
The Government has came up with manufacturing policies to help those companies and the suppliers, but the most important is to come up with a policy that will enhance the production as well as the consumption so that the trade deficit will decrease. The Obama administration has been working on it more than the Bush Administration had. Even though the USA is in a depression and the manufacturing industry is declining, it still has an importance part to play in the recovery of the Economy. The automobile industry are now focusing on the renewable energy to upgrade their cars and make them more competitive.
Every step that have been done to make the economy recovers will be seen sometime in the future. As it is says "thing has to get worse before they get better". The USA is in the worse part right now and lately we have seen that it started to get less worse, with banks that reported huge profit for the second quarter, GM, which is "out of bankruptcy", but the worse part is unemployment that still climbs up high.

The Ivory Coast

Let's imagine that you have just won a traveling package to one of the most exotic place in Africa, on the west coast to be more precise. You will be staying and visiting the main big cities of the country as well as discovering the culture trough food, places, beaches...I will give you some advice about the activities that you can do while being there so that you can enjoy your stay.
The Ivory Coast is located on the west coast of Africa, between Liberia and Ghana. There are two big cities that are well known because they comprise the main business center of the country. Those two cities are Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, which the Capital of the country.
Abidjan is not a touristic city because there are no monuments to visits or places that depict a particular story about the Ivory Coast. But it is a great to place to have some great fun. There are many restaurants that served the country main dishes, the best restaurant of all is called "AKWABA", which means in a local tongue from the country welcome. The special dish that all tourists should taste before they leave the Ivory Coast is called "sauce graine avec du foutou banane". This is a sauce made with palm accompanied with mashed banana plantains, very delicious. But I forgot to mention about the place where you should stay, before you can think of food, you will have to have a place to sleep first. In Abidjan there is a nice hotel name the "WAFFOU". The design of the hotel is such that guest have their own small apartment that lay on water. The hotel is on the coast of the sea and the service is remarkable.
If you need to have some sun and relax away from the city of Abidjan, I suggest that you go to the beach. There are many beaches in the Ivory Coast. On of the most famous one is located an hour away from Abidjan, in Assini. At Assini there are many options for tourists to stay for the weekend and more and have a relaxing time. There are many chalets that can be rented out for as long as you want. There are very luxurious, upscale. Those houses are just on the beach, the view is priceless. There are many restaurants around that served nice sea food as well as grill food. There are also many souvenirs shop to buy nice handmade statuette, and African clothes. In Assini you can also visit the Colonial houses, where the colonizer used to live.
The other main city is Yamoussoukro, the capital. Yamoussoukro is famous because you can visit the biggest Basilica in the world. The first president of the Ivory Coast wanted to build a monument for its country that will attract tourists but also make it known by the outside world. He decided to build a basilica that will be bigger than the one in Rome. He was able to but sadly it did not attract as many tourists as he would have wanted and it did not make our country well known.But it still a nice place to visit.
Back in Abidjan for you night life, there are many places where you can go and have some fun. If you really want to get a taste of the culture trough amusement, it is better to go to the "maquis", which are pubs, where people drink, dance and eat. It is not an upscale place but it is very entertaining.
After spending some time at the Waffou hotel, eating at AKWABA restaurant, spending some time at Assini beach and visiting the basilica in Yamoussoukro and dancing with the people in the "maquis", you will want to make this part of the world, a vacation place for the winter.

The Road Not Taken

"The Road Not Taken" is a poem written by Frost Robert in 1916.
This poem literal interpretation is about a traveler who is faced with a choice between two roads. He has to make a choice and decide which road to travel on. He picked one road, one that has been less traveled by, because "it was grassy and wanted wear". Between the two roads, he picked the one that was "less traveled by".
The way I understand this poem is that this traveler has decided to take a step, a step for a change may be is his life. Now he is faced with two choices regarding the path that he should take. This path is depicted here as two roads, one that has been traveled a lot and the other less, but they are both "worn ...about the same". This traveler does not seems enthusiastic by the change that he has decided to encounter. He does not seem confident about his choice, this can be implied in the stanza where it is said " then took the other, as just as fair". If it was because he wanted to, he would have been more forceful about the reason why he took this path. The doubt can also be seen by the vocabulary that is being used in this poem, "perhaps", "doubted". Not only that he has made his choice with no confidence, he is not sure about going all the way to the path that he has chosen.
For him taking the road that he had taken "has made all the difference". The difference in what? Is it the difference in his way of choosing? Does he follow now his instinct instead of following the mass?
Choices, we are all faced with choices at least once a day and sometime some choices seem to be more important than others. And we are face with our own image in the mirror and have to decide which path to follow. At this point we either listen to the voice inside us or we listen to the "voices outside". But we have to make a choice and assume this choice until the end. Sometime it seems easier to follow the mass, thinking that this is the only way. But we tend to forget what is pulling us, we tend to forget what matter to our "individual" instead of caring about what other would do or would think. And it is only when we are face with ourselves that we can really see who we are and decide what is best for us, without following what seems to be the ideal path.

Prescription drugs

In an article from CNN.com, Madison Park reports on prescription drugs, which people think are more safer than street drugs because there are prescribed by a doctor and approved by the FDA.
Nowadays we see lot of actors who die of overdose of prescription drugs. Those drugs, which are used to treat anxiety, pain as well as sleeping deprivation as become a killing machine in the American society. It was reported that in 2005, non medical use of pain killers contributed to the death of more than 8500 people, most of whom are young people from the age of 13 to 18. Those young people organize what they call a "pharming party", which consist of taking medicine from the home medicine, putting them in a bowl and picking which one to consume with alcohol.
Most people are afraid of street drugs because it illegal but, in reality those medicines that attenuate the pain, or help sleep are just like heroin, morphin, they are simply addictive and can cause serious problem to those who abuse them. Some of the side effects are decreased in breathing, respiratory arrest, reduce of oxygen in the brain.
People who needs those prescription drugs have found ways to never run out of it, by going to different doctors from different states, by using different names on the prescription, by lying about the fact that they have lost their medicine.
Now 38 states had passed a law to create a database for physicians and pharmacists to prevent abusers from obtaining multiple prescriptions. Maybe this will help in the short term, but about in a long run. An addict will always find ways to get his/her drugs.

UBS vs the IRS

UBS AG, which is the largest Swiss bank by assets is being sued by the US Government. In an article from Bloomberg.com dated July 13, David Voreacos reports on the matter.
This case, which is a very complex has set some feuds on the Swiss Government as well as the US Government. The situation is this, the US Government is accusing UBS of facilitating tax fraud by top Americans earners and now want the name and the accounts of those accounts holders. On the other end UBS has to violate Swiss criminal laws of protecting bank secrecy by giving out those names and accounts.
At this point the bank is trying to settle out of court, discussion has been undertaken by the Swiss Government and the US Government. The US sued UBS on February 19 and UBS agreed to pay $780 million to "defer prosecution for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes".
The US Government even intend to seized UBS assets that are in the US if they do not comply with their request.
This case is very delicate, because it is about two laws that have been broken. Swiss law recognizes tax fraud and not tax evasion as a crime. The IRS law recognizes tax fraud as well as tax evasion as a crime. Any settlement would force the Swiss law to change or either the US law to change when it comes to tax fraud.
UBS has admitted helped Americans evade US taxes by opening accounts in tax havens, and making the beneficiary of those accounts non existent companies.
As it is said in the article it would be best for UBS to settle out of court especially that those fraud were made on US soil. Judge Skarlatos who is in charge of this case said in the article," Swiss laws don't apply when you actively violate the laws of the United States". If the bank does not want to see all its assets that are in the US being seized they will be better off giving out those names.

Heath care debate without Edward M. Kennedy

In an article from the boston.com, Wagsness and Milligan reports on the difficulties that congress and the lawmakers are facing in order to change the health care system without the assistance of the Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy.
Edward Kennedy who has been absent in the Capitol since April for health reason has been missed by everyone who are directly concern with the health care debate. The Massachusetts senator is known to have a great ability to convince people in a debate as well as getting people together to work and make positive outcomes. As it stated in the article, he is known to have a great negotiation skill, and a good knowledge on the heath care policy.
Even though he is battling with his life, he still dedicates some of his time to work. But people are aware that his absence is not the entirely reason why no agreement has been met when it comes to the health care debate.
There are so many division among Republicans and Democrats that two negotiation groups have been formed. One is the "coalition of the willing", which regrouped four Republicans and two Democrats. And the other negotiation group is known under the "Blue Dog" Democrats, which ignore the Republicans.
The health care overhaul has been an important topic since the President Obama has been elected. There have been proposals from every party but as well as division. The Liberals want to give the consumers the opportunity to choose to buy a coverage instead of being forced to, but opponents see this as a treat to private insurance industry, which will be force to decrease their prices.
Another issue that Congress is divided about is the cost of the health care bill, which could account trillion dollars or more.
With the absence of Kennedy, Senator Chris Dodd is now in charge of the health care bill but has also other priority that he has to face as well as personal issues.

GM coming out of bankruptcy

In the New York Time Podcast by Jeff Sommer, Micheline Maynard talks about the new strategy being used by GM to get out of bankruptcy.
After going bankrupt on June first, General Motors is "coming out" of it by creating a new structure that will help the company.
This company that is being created was done under what it is called "section3 63 sales". This is basically taking good assets and putting them together to form a new version of the company. GM will be compromised by four brands, which are Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. On top of this consolidation there will be less dealers as well as a cuts down in payroll.
GM is owned by the US Government, the Canadian Government, a Union Health care trust and ten percent of the old GM that still remains in bankruptcy.
Now that GM has a new CEO named Fritz Henderson, some restructurings have been undertaken by him to bring the company back to its feet. The government, which also own GM has already named a new chairman of the Board of Directors of GM named Edward Whitacre.
The difficulty that the company is facing at this point is the fact that the automobile market is at its lowest, forty percent down, the demand for GM vehicles has been low has well. The fact that GM had filed for bankruptcy will undermined the image of the brand, because investors have lost confidence, and the fact that GM has sold some of its products such as Saturn will create some confusion as well for the customers.
The Government had said that it will give thirty billion to GM to help GM get out of bankruptcy, even though there is no accounting records on how much GM has spent so far, GM was able to "shed its debt" as well as its liability to the employees when it comes to health care.
The Government possible exit strategies for GM is to have an IPO of GM's stocks by next year but this will depend on how well the economy as well as the market are doing. And the UAW,which oversee the heath care trust, told their members to held their shares for several years because it will take time to have the stock price of GM to go to a "normal value".

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was and still is an Icon of the American Pop music. He lived from August 29, 1958 to June 25, 2009.
Now that he is dead people around the world are either mourning him or remembering the scandalous publicity that was around him.
His family are fighting over his estates. Despite the fact that he has a written will, there have been some turmoils about executing his will. The executors of the will which are, John Branca and John McClain, will now decide how the will should be executed as stated in Michale Jackson's will.
Since Michael Jackson is loved by so many people around the world,even his memorial day is used to make profit. To prevent people to make money on the tickets for the memorial service, a lottery has been established that give the opportunity of dear fans of Michael Jackson as well as friends the opportunity to be part of this sad but at the same time celebrating day.
But even with those precaution, some people admitted selling their extra tickets. A lady who did not want to divulged her identity admitted selling her extra tickets for $35,000.

The Fourth of July

The independence of the United States was celebrated yesterday, Saturday July 4th. The weather has not been nice for the past days, but especially for this celebration day the weather gives us a break, and we were able to appreciate the sun and the nice weather.
I spent that day with my friends and family. We organized a Barbecue at my uncle place in Brockton and we had friends who came and enjoyed that day with us.
It was really nice just being with family and friends and socializing and talking about everything.
Children were having fun playing soccer, and adults were either enjoying their foods or drinks.
At dawn we watched the fireworks, we mainly heard the noises and saw some fireworks.
It was a great day and a great week end!!!!
Hope you enjoyed yours as well.

Bridge Rehabilitation Project

MEMO


Date: June, 30,2009

To: Bruce Berman

From: Akouassi Yao

Re: Observations from the Public Meeting regarding the Boston University Rehabilitation Project



Content of the meeting

The meeting was from 6.30pm to 8.00 pm, the Director of the Accelerated Bridge Program, Mr. Jonathan Gulliver did a presentation about the historic of the Bridge and the reasons why it was imperative that it get renovated.
He showed the prevision for the project in term of time, remodeling of the road as well as the bridge and the impact this project will have on the citizens of Cambridge, Brighton, the BU community, and the economy.

Assertion #1

The second part gave the opportunity to the participants to actually express their concerned, give their opinions and even suggestions. It was very controversial because people had concerned on many points, and were dissatisfied about how this meeting was advertised.
The people who are the most concerned about this project are the bicyclists, who find the model of the bridge in disadvantage to them, people from Cambridge feel that they have not been consulted in this change that will affect their commute for the next five years.

Social networking services

Social networking services are online communities of people who share interests and activities. They allow users to create a profile of themselves, upload pictures, invite their friends and also make friends. Users can interact through emails, and instant messages.
There are about two hundreds social network services. The tops one are Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Bebo.
Social networking services have become very popular to the point that even businesses are using them as a tool to build their brand image. Businesses create brand awareness through social networking services, they learn about new technologies and competitors, they look for potential prospects and they even recruit.
Social networking services are now being used in political campaigns. As we saw in the last presidential campaign, Youtube was a way for candidates to send out their messages, but also for voters to ask questions and get to know better their candidates, as well as the opponents.
The people of Boston will soon vote for a new Mayor. Candidates for the election are using different method to reach the voters. Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon, who are two of the candidates in the mayoral election, are “pro” social networking services. Flaherty said in the Metro: “It’s about bringing the election to the people in real different way”. His site allows residents to share their ideas and make suggestions. Sam Yoon said that he will “engage in debates with Boston city residents on his Twitter page”. They are using Obama as a reference and Yoon said, “Obama really pointed the way in terms of how people get connected in new ways”.
One of the way people can get connected now is through social networking services, which is becoming a part of society, a part of the way people talk, and informed themselves, date, decide who they want to vote for and so on. This new way of communication facilitates the exchange of information. It touches a wide range of people, and in a political contest has proven to be very useful.
In everything that is good, there is a bad side that comes with it. Social networking services can be harmful for those who use them. The danger comes from having your identity stolen to young children being manipulated and abused. But for now it is not yet the prime concern of the media.

"Three hefty tax increases on business"

In an article from fortune magazine, Geoff Colvin reports on the new laws that the Obama administration plan to put in place in search of revenue as well as to protect American jobs. This article entitled "Business Gets Taxed, Workers Get hurt" is about "three hefty tax increases on business"
The first one is about corporation that are located overseas in order to evade corporate taxes. The US Government is said to be "virtually the world's highest corporate tax rate". Countries with lower corporate tax rates are considered to be "tax haven" and more and more corporations established themselves in those countries and only pay the country tax requirement. In order to reduce this from happening the White house is proposing to charges American companies that are overseas taxes on "their profits as soon as they are earned, no matter where". This is supposed to discourage companies from relocating and at the same time keep the jobs in the USA. As it said by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Chief "we are better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S as opposed to keeping them inside the US".
The other proposed law is about how companies should account their inventories. It will be required that they use FIFO instead of LIFO. This will make companies pay taxes "on phantom profits as value of goods gets inflated while they sit in inventory". Due to inflation that keep on rising it will cost more for companies rather than benefiting them.
The third proposed tax increase is on carbon emissions, which is for the benefit of the planet but still is a tax that companies will have to incur.
As Geoff Covin reports, the victim are not the companies but the employees, the shareholders and the customers. Especially the employees of those companies being taxed. Because most of the tax increase come out of employees' pay.
With this economy and the fact that companies have to be more and more competitive in order to survive, it seems that proposed laws that are being put in place are not very favorable to US corporate and also to their employees. The "loser" of all as it is stipulated in this article are the employees who are really the ordinary people.

The Chairman of the Fed defends himself

Ben Bernanke was appearing in front of the Congress on June 25th regarding his role in the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. He is being accused of pressuring, and threatening to fire the Chief Executive of Bank of America, if the company decide to "pull out of the deal".
Edmund Andrews gives a report on the matter to Jeff Summer of the New York podcats. The Federal reserve and the treasury have intervened more than once in the bail out of big Banks since the economic crisis. The merger of Bank of America and Merill Lynch is being seen as a "messy business" because Merill Lynch has incurred huge losses and to avoid the collapse of this huge financial institution Bank of America is to take over of Merill Lynch. But as it is reported in the podcast, the Federal Reserve has been to "secretive to the regulatory agencies about Merill Lynch losses". The merger does not seem to be of an interest to Bank of America but since the Fed wants to avoid the collapse of Merill Lynch, Ben Bernanke is supposedly pressuring the Chief executive as well as the board of Bank of America to seal the deal.
The latest bail out of the banks by the Fed have been viewed differently by the Republicans and the Democrats. As Edmund says in the report "Republicans are out for blood", they disapprove the Fed "authority in regulating important institutions" and also the President Obama's plan of "arming private institutions". For the Republican the government interference can be the reason why Merill Lynch has collapsed compare to the inadequate regulations of the government. For the Democrats the Fed did not do enough to resolve Merill Lynch issue.
Even though the bail out of Banks by the Fed and the treasury is a controversy, it has helped "stop the free fall of the financial institution" and bring the economy in a "plain fashion recession" as it said by Edmund Andrews.
At this point some programs are being held and even suppressed, but the one that is still in process are loaned such as, consumer loan, business loan as well as mortgage loan that will be finance by the Fed and the treasury, a program of $30 billion to trillion.

The success of the Iphone 3GS

Despite the economical hardship the Iphone 3GS keeps its position as the most desirable "gadget" of the twenty one century. As it was reported on Fortune.com, the new Iphone that was released last week sold "more than one million copies". An average sales that surpassed what they had predicted.
The report on the sale of the new Iphone 3GS is significant but not as much as the special quote made by Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple. Steve Jobs, who has been absent for sometimes due to medical condition, is an important key in the success of Apple. His presence is very well regarded by retail investors and since Steve Jobs left for medical condition the stock price of Apple has change but not significantly. On June 12 it closed at $136.97 dropped to $135.88 on June 18 ( the day before the release of the Iphone 3GS) and climbed back to $139.48 on June 19 and now is down at $137.37 as of June 22.
The medical situation of Steve Jobs was kept silence and major newspapers would not confirm on this. Until it was reported by CNBC and after the Wall Street Journal that Steve Jobs has received liver transplant two months ago. The fact that Apple's executive kept silence on this issue has been criticized. Since Apple is a public company it should disclosed every information concerning the company that might affect the stock. Especially that the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, influenced a lot the confidence of investors in Apple' stock.

Living in Paris

Paris is known has one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Their excellent taste in food, their beautiful places, beautiful clothes are one of the many reasons some people love Paris.
Paris is an historic city where lot of monuments can be visited. The Eiffel tower as well as the Louvre are some of them.
One of the famous food in my opinion in Paris is the bread. There are different type of bread, the most popular one is "la baguette". French eat "La baguette" with almost every meal they have throughout the day.
In Paris there are a lot of bakery shop, which sell "la baguette" all day long, along with other pastry such as pie, and cake. If you ever go to Paris on vacation, do not forget to stop by any bakery and taste the beauty of "la baguette" with some cheese.

Another scheme!!!!

On June 19, Jeff Sommer interviewed Clifford Kraus in the New York podcast regarding another scheme that was made by a Texas Billionaire named R.Allen Stanford.
Mister Stanford has been "indicted on fraud and obstruction charges". He is the owner of an offshore bank in Antiga, which is supposed to invest in safe investments such as, high yield CD in Latin America and in the USA. But instead he was running a "ponzy scheme" that consist of "buying real estate to operate his organization and also invest in risky investment". The total of the scheme accounted for seven billion dollar, which it said to be less that what Madoff did but still is a lot of money. R.Allen corrupted Mr King, the head of regulatory commissions of Antiga, which made is scheme easier to operate and harder to catch. This ponzy scheme has affected mainly the people from Latin America who actually do not want to have this issue publicized intensively, due to the fact that most of them put those fund offshore to avoid taxes in their own country and the other who might want to get their fund back will not get a lot because some of the money has been frozen by investors fund and the over is "less than 2 billion of recoverable asset". Mr Stanford is said to be in Antiga, and has proclaimed his innocence. He blamed the US government for "cracking down his organization".
Lately the financial world has shown how corrupted it can be. Hopefully solutions will be found to better regulate the investment sector and protect more the investors.

Ships Exposition on the Boston Harbor

In an article from the boston.com, untitled "$1m deal will open Tall Ships to public", Donovan Slack reports on the coming Ships exhibition on the Boston Harbor. This event will take place from July 8 to July 13. It will enable public to board free of charge on ships from "20 different countries" and also different types of ships.
It is not the first time that Boston has hosted such an event. It was done back in 2000 and was a great success. But it brought some dispute over whose responsible for the cost of security. This year, this event is facing the same issue, Mayor Menino does not want the city to take charge of all the expenses that the exposition require. But, the Mayor of Boston (Menino Thomas) as well as the Governor of Massachusetts (Deval Patrick) came up with an agreement where the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority will come up with $1 Million to support "the security costs" of this event.
The reason why the Mayor is so concern about the funding of this event is that he does not want the city of Boston to be responsible of all the costs that will be incurred to provided the safety of the public. Back in 2000, the city was left with a bill of $1.6 million that it had to pay without any support of the state as well as the organizer who actually made huge profit out of this exposition.
As they say in this article, this event will boost the economy of the city by booking more hotels rooms, as well as restaurants. This should be an incentive for the Mayor to be more engaged financially in this exposition. But with what happened in 2000, the Mayor has well founded reasons to make sure that the fund will be sponsored from somewhere instead of leaving the city responsible of all the security costs.
Beside the funding issue, this event seems to give an opportunity to people who love prestigious ships to board on them and share great moments.

The power of reading

Do you read? If yes, How reading has influenced your life? If you ask me it has influence my life a lot. I would like to share with you a poem from RUMI, which I just find "deep" and inspiring.

" The wine and the cup
The wine of divine grace is limitless.
All limits come only from the faults of the cup.
Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;
How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.
Grant a great dignity, my friend, to the cup of your life;
Love has designed it to hold His eternal wine.
Mathnawi"

This poem in my opinion is a metaphor of the body and the soul. The body being the cup and the soul being the wine. Just like the sea, the sea is limtless to the human eyes. The wine as well is limtless as long as the cup can hold it. The soul being pure, being love, is limtless. Love has no limit when we really want to love and only put love first in every of our actions. Human beings set their own boundaries by being to tied up to their body, worrying about the satisfaction of the body, the ego. That where we become limited in our actions. How love can fill our heart is by having on open mind, an open heart, being able to let yourself love and being loved in return. We should respect our body, love our body because it is the container of the love that we receive on daily basis and that we return on a daily basis. But we should not let our body guide us because it is the wine which really contains the cup and not the cup that contains the wine.

Federal Regulation on Tobacco

In the New York Times Podcast dated June 11, 2009, Jeff Sommer interviews Duff Wilson regarding the new legislation that will certainly be approved by senate regarding the disclosure of the chemicals products used in cigarettes and all type of tobaccos.
This legislation is now possible because of the Democrats who have the majority votes in the Senate.
This legislation will force Tobacco Industry to "get rid" of some of the dangerous chemicals ingredients used in tobaccos, but also regulate the way they do their marketing.
This regulation will reduce the number of young smokers as well as the number of new users. But as they say tobacco will never be banned.
The tobacco industry are arguing that tobacco is not a drug and that menthol is not consider as a dangerous ingredient.
Is tobacco a drug? If not why do people want to regulate it?
Tobacco is considered as a killing machine, it kills more people everyday compare to AIDS for example. But it is only now that something is being made to protect children, those who have never smoked and those who are already addicted.
In developed countries like the United States of America and Europe laws "protect" citizens again abusive industries who only think of their profits. But those legislation only protect a group of people who live on the "good side" of the planet. What about those who live in countries where tobacco industries can actually advertise on television as well as on humongous billboard that are almost everywhere. Those countries can only blame themselves, some people might say. But I say this, if you are protecting a human being from being killed, you should protect all human beings. I guess that is why humanity came up with those International organizations who only act when they have some kind of interest.
If Europe is fighting against tobacco industries and now the United States, I guess it has become a world issues, so what the UN,UNICEF or all those NGOs are waiting for to protect those who are in need by regulating the tobacco industry not only on a national level but on a worldwide level?

High end Vacation for the price of "almost nothing"

I an article from the fortune magazine dated June 5 2009, Diane Tegmeye reports on the prices of hotels' rooms that have been decreasing at the highest since the economic recession.
For those who want a nice getaway in some nice places around the world, the time has never been better than before. High end hotels such as the Four Seasons Hotels, the Ritz, offer packaged for less than half the price they usually charged.
As it is reported in this article, even though some people are afraid of offering themselves a nice vacation because of the current economy, they should think twice especially if they can afford it.
Even for those who travel with their family can benefits from the great deals. Hotels have decreased their prices to make it possible for large and small family to afford their vacation."One child per paying adult flies free from any Cayman Airways gateway city -- Miami, New York, or Tampa". At the Disney resort in Paris, children under twelve do not pay for their stay as well as for the parks entrance. Making it more attracting for family who would like to offer a great vacation to their children.
We are in tough time but we can see some great opportunities outside that allow everyone to offer themselves a precious and memorable moment.

Are you a "Herbivore" or a "Carnivore" Man

In an article from the CNN.com, dated June 7th, Morgan Neill covers a topic about the new man generation in Japan, the "herbivorous boys". Do you know what is it to be an "herbivorous boy"? This name came from Maki Fukasawa an author and pop culture columnist. She describes those young men from 20 and 30 years old as "skinny", less aggressive, and more "vulnerable". The are interested in their appearance and certainly not about having a girlfriend or having a sexual relationship. "In Japan, sex is translated as 'relationship in flesh,'" she said, "so I named those boys 'herbivorous boys' since they are not interested in flesh." They believe men can have a friendly relationship with women without having to engage themselves.
The carnivore men do not agree with the way those young boy behave. In their opinion a man should be more aggressive and less passive in order to succeed in their enterprises. The herbivore men, not only, are not interested in relationship but also not in money. As it is reported in the article, this is due to the economic crisis. More and more people are unemployed especially the younger one.
If being a "herbivorous man" means being skinny, vulnerable, not driven by money, and passive, and being a "carnivorous man" means being aggressive, money driven, proactive, which one do you think you are, for you man? and for woman, which one do you prefer?

Obama and his letter about healthcare

From the Boston.com website, Lisa Wangsness, published an article about the new plan of the President Obama regarding health care.
For the President of the United States, Barack Obama, it is imperative that everyone should have a health care coverage, especially, the poor and the elder. His plan is to have the committee decide on a new proposal for health care by October. But with the Republicans, who are opposed to "public insurance option" and the cost of health care that keep on increasing, it will be difficult, not even to say impossible for the President to come up with a plan that will benefits most of the American people.
The cost of health is skyrocketing in every states, but two well known clinics manage to keep their costs lower than the national average. The President Obama wants other clinic to learn from their success and follow their lead.
The simplest issues always cause the most noises and the least actions. Hopefully, the people who decide and control the life of millions will think less of their pocket and more of those who are in need of support.

Apple and its rivalries

In the pod cast of June 4th Jeff summer interviewed Brad Stone who is currently at the World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco.
As we all know the Iphone from Apple is the new gadget that we all have to have. The stock price of Apple has been increasing. As it is said in the pod cast, “Apple stocks price is on the roll” meaning it is having a lot of success. Despite being successful Apple has to face competition, which is “stiff” (severe than usual). The primary competitors of Apple are RIM, Google and Palm. Those three are considered to be the prime competitors of Apple.
This conference is more about the new moves that Apple will give to its products to keep them attractive to its consumers. Apple is envisioning the possibility of inventing a new phone, with features that will enable users not only to view a specific restaurant review, but also get better image for the camera, basically a phone that will be more smarter than the current Iphone.
Even though they worry about Palms, Apple’s “folks” are confident about the future.
When it comes to MACS, Apple talks about the new version of the MAC OS “Snow leopard”.
Beside all those great news from Apple, the only backside is that Apple needs to be more competitive especially in this current economy where “customer spending has been pulled back”. They need to revise they prices and take into account the fact that “low cost notebook are getting in the market”.

Small and sweet memories

From an article in the CNN.com under living Bob green talks about "small and sweet"memories that we keep in our mind despite the time that have passed.
He talks about this 80 years old lady, who remember this grocery owner who was very patient with her and her friend, while they were deciding on which candy to pick. He also talks about this lady from japan who studied in the USA and who was not good at baseball but got the encouragement of a stranger who told her "you can do it". Those words are now her mantra in everything she sees challenging.
"Small and sweet memories", we do all have one at least, that make us smile or boost our energy. While we are living those experiences, we do not see the importance in it. But as time pass, we become more aware of the importance of those moments that make us smile today. As tiny as it can be sometime. Bob Green article is about encouragement, encouragement that we receive from our family, friends, or even stranger, they can be tiny from the outside but from the inside, they are limitless. The nice gesture that comes from some people with no interest behind are the best one that we ever going to receive. They can be "small and sweet memories" but those memories give us qualities that we could never have imagined.

Me or I

How do we define ourselves?

Who am I?

Is it my name that define who I am or is it how I see myself or other sees me?

I am an African, from the West side of Africa, The Ivory Coast. I don't know if I should feel lucky about being born in France, but I know that I am grateful for that. If you wonder why, I will tell you why?
With today's world, most people who are from "the third world" want to be able to live in developed countries, why is that? "because they think life is better on the other side". Is it or is it not? I would not be able to answer this question on behalf of everyone, but what I can say it is a privilege to have an European or even an American passport. That is why I am grateful to be a citizens of France as well as the European Union.
It gives me the opportunity to travel anywhere without having to worry about the "visa".
About introducing myself, who am I?
I am a human being just like everyone of you, who might read this blog. Sometime confused, sometime happy, sometime confused about being happy. Why am I happy and at the same time confused? How this one works?
I am a citizens of planet Earth, who wants the best for the planet and at the same time confused about what we really need to do to help save the planet.
Some teachings says that we are souls, and I believe I am a soul waiting to be awaken, by what, I do not know yet but I am searching. "Search and you will find". So I am searching, by interacting with people, interacting with myself and trying to understand what I am living and what is around me. So that is "Me or I"

Healthcare system in France

France as everyone knows is a country where the social is very predominant. The most important is to have everyone under health care but also everyone should have a minimum income.
The health care system in France is mainly based on income.
Let's say you are an individual with no income, you have the right to be covered, it is called CMU (couverture mutuelle universelle). The CMU gives you the right to go to specific health providers. With the CMU you do not pay anything, everything is paid by the governement. This only apply to those who are unemployed or underemployed. For those who atre employed with a decent salary, they have the CMU through their companies they work for. A part of the bill is being paid by the company and the other by the beneficiary.
For those who does not have the CMU, the social security covers seventy percent of the medical bills, prescriptions and the rest is for the beneficiary to pay. This coverage is done through social security. The beneficiary needs first to pay his/her bill, which will be reimburse in two weeks period.

Ethicist from the NY Times Podcast

In the NY Time podcast under Ethicist dated May 29, Randy Cohen answer reader's questions on ethical issues. The issue was about a lady who helped a low income individual prepare his tax return. Her concern what about the fact that this individual she helped, used ten percent of his tax return to donate to his church, while most of his income came from unemployment benefits. In her opinion this individual did not need the money he received since he gave it away . Randy Cohen answer was that this man should not be condemned because he use his tax return to give it away and also certainly not because half of his income came from unemployment benefit. But rather should be admire for his action. First he has the right to collect unemployment benefits and second he should not be seen as a burden to other. Just like Randy said "lack of economy is not lack of ethics". He also define unemployment people as underfed, harass, miserable, endless misery". How do we overcome unemployment? Is it by changing our habits to the point that we stop doing good deeds to some who are in need just like we are? Or is it by sharing with other and hoping that some day things will get better?
Does charity can only be made by rich people? Even poor people feel the need to help other, to know that other will smile despite this difficult economy.

Living with machines

In an article from the BBCnews.com, named "Can robots ever be like humans?", the author talks about the improvement in the making of robots more human like. Even though robots do not move or think like human does, they have been some improvements. They can now pick up objects, walk, "replicate a smooth sequence of movements".
But why do human needs more robots or even robots that act like human. They say that robots can be used "in the fields such as neuroscience". So why do they need them to be more human like?
Today's world is pushing us to think beyond the unthinkable, but sometime do we need what around us to make our lives easier to live?
A robot who can act, feel, walk like a human, what will be the use of this robot? Are we going to see in 50 years "interhumanrobot" couple with children half robot and half human?
When it comes to science, the imagination of scientists is sometime exaggerated. Scientists want to be the creator that they are not and will never be, instead of being one of the way to understand nature, human being, they want to create machines and then, understand them to better control them.
At this point humans do not need more being that they already have. What we need is to stop destroying what we have and stop inventing what we do not need.

Cost of health care

Health care is an issue that gets everybody eyes brows to raise. In an article on the Boston.com, Kay Lazar talks about health care costs in Massachusetts, which has been rising even more than inflation.
Those who are mainly touched by this situation are the low incomes families, who find issues finding physicians but also difficulties affording the cost. Even though Massachusetts has set new rules forcing residents to have health care otherwise they will face tax penalty, some people are not insured.
Massachusetts nevertheless compare to other state is in a better standing when it comes to health care. They are more people who are insured and the service offer is relatively better.
The issue now is to get the medical debt to lower.
When we all know that beside paying the rent or the mortgage, most of the income of a middle class person goes to health care. With this economy where more people are losing their jobs and at the same time their coverage, I am wondering how the state will manage not only to ensure that everyone is insured but at the same time lower the medical debts. If the intention is really to help, there is always a solution that can be found. But if it is to make benefits, some people will be left out and the effort to establish a solid health care system will not have the result expected.

Luxury hit by the crisis!!!!!

We all know those luxurious brand name that makes us dream that we have to have it or we do not belong. But do we really need them to fell that we belong?
In an article in the New York times by Suzy Menkes, she talks about Christian Lacroix, famous french designer, who is filing for bankruptcy protection.
The economy is now forcing people on top of of the pyramid to think about their expenses and forgo of what they really do not need at the first place.
Those luxurious name see their revenue shrink and have to find new strategies to overcome the economy downturn.
They are all hit, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Armani, you name it.
The question that we have to ask ourselves do we really need to buy those items at the first place?
In today's world there are so many places where we can go, such as the internet, to purchase luxurious brand name at a cheaper price that we do not even need to go to the store.
The way a brand develops its reputation is through the vision they first established at the first time the brand started to existed. With all this bankruptcy filling, we finally see that they have been putting their energy and their resources at the wrong place. It may not be about "jacking up" the price, but looking for the necessity of a product. Apparently Luxury is not a necessity!!!!!
May be their vision was to make the client unique, and now being unique is not the primary concern of some people but instead survive in this crisis.

Meritocracy!?!?

In the NY Times.com Podcasts published on May 22, Walter Kirn talks about his new book "Lost in Meritocracy".
Do yo know what is Meritocracy!??!?!
Before we talk about meritocracy let's talk about what Walter Kirn says about his life, his journey to become more educated. From someone who was a student in a small public high school to a renowned ivy league university, he developed his reading habit by himself. As he said his first books were not a reference but as time went by he started to read books that made him more educated.
Walter Kirn says Meritocracy is this " Meritocracy writes on defining intelligence in a measurable way ...that can be scored". In his opinion the human mind can not be define this way (can not be measure as percentile, score...).
This podcast got my interest, because this author is talking about education, what is an education and how to get educated. Is it by going to ivy league school or is it by looking to our own passion, our own culture, intelligence, interest and dig into it to achieve the level of education that we are looking for. Like Walter Kirn says about getting an education, is to go "to the primary source upon which our culture is based".
But is is only our culture which is going to get us an education. Our culture was made of so many other culture, isn't it better to learn about everything that interest us either from our culture or not? And with this globalization, mondialization isn't it better to look even further than were we are from, which is our culture.
About meritocracy, does it measure my level of intelligence based on what "society" think is relevant or what is relevant to me? the GMAT, the SAT.....are they really relevent to test what I can and what I cannot achieve. Isn't ist about perseverence, beliefs, passion, determiniation?????

The harship of the current econonomy vs entertaining oneself

This article written by Sarah Rodman, entitled "Music lovers pack halls, drown the money blues" is about resident of Massachusetts, who despite the economical hardship find ways to entertain themselves.
People are reducing their expenses by suppressing some of their habits, but when it comes to memorable time such as going to a concert, they find ways to participate in it. Like the author of this article says "You might not remember a dinner you had two years ago at a restaurant, but you'll remember a good show 20 years from now,"and that is the greatnest of going to a concert. It is about gathering with people who share the same passion as you do, it is about enjoying your favorite singers by watching them performed, it is about an unforgettable experience.
With today's economy, we might not be able to do all the things we use to do either to entertain ourselves or just to pleased ourselves (buying thing we do not need and put it in the closet), but it is important not to give up our life. We need to live and see the glass half full. Ask ourselves what is the good side of this economy? Spending time with loves one, going to a concert at a cheaper price. And that is what some people in this article are doing. Lauren Gonzalez despite losing her job just after buying a ticket concert did not sell it.First the deal that she got, she could not have getting it any other time but also that a time she will spend with her daughter and at the same time with herself, listening the music she loves.
This economy is teaching us how to live without excess, let see the good side of it and enjoy every single day of this journey. You know why it is not about to change any time soon!!!!!!