90,000 AND COUNTING..

Five O'clock this morning the phone rang and it was a machine advising us that 90,000 people in New Jersey are still with out power and water. What a nightmare! My parents called me and told me that the town is still considered under a state of emergency due to so many road blocks, no water or power in any block of its entirety of the town. To be exact here the information I had read up and found in detail. PSE&G reported 156,000 outages as of noon yesterday, said a company spokesman Paul Rosengren. Of those, 90,000 are in Bergen County, 24,000 in Passaic and Essex counties and 22,000 in Middlesex, Union and Somerset counties. Horrible! Just horrible!

Prior to the water systems being shut down in my home town the original message was:

The advisory was put in effect in the following areas of Bergen County until further notice:
Hillsdale, Northvale, Washington Township, Emerson, Alpine, Paramus, Dumont, Englewood Cliffs, Teaneck, Hasbrouck Heights, Carlstadt, Ridgefield, North Bergen, Union City, Englewood, Tenafly, Palisades Park and Cliffside Park. Residents are asked to boil their water for one minute for drinking, cooking or baking, making ice cubes, taking medication, brushing teeth, washing food, mixing baby formula or food, mixing juices or drinks, feeding pets and all other consumption. BUT! Last minute change they turned off all water in my town, I don't know about the others!

Driving around is dangerous due to the trees and cables down and road blocks! Be careful!

I don't have class today but I do tomorrow night.. mm.. I hope all will be fixed by than but I highly doubt it.

Checking on the website - you will see - at Paramus the campus is open and classes are in session today. So be careful driving in all towns and areas!

In other News...

Remeber all those fundraiser Berkeley held to help Hati?

Well all the hard work paid off!

BERKELEY COLLEGE DONATES

MORE THAN $16,000

TOWARD RELIEF EFFORTS IN HAITI

Here is a statement from the web-site:

“Our College community has been personally affected by this tragedy, which has touched the hearts of humanity around the globe,” said Berkeley College President Dario A. Cortes, PhD. “I am very proud to announce that the Berkeley community has raised more than $8,000 to support the Haiti relief efforts. Berkeley College will be matching that amount for a grand total of $16,336.”

Fundraisers took place at Berkeley College campuses in New York and New Jersey! They even had a“Hula Hoop for Haiti” contest, which I have mentioned in earlier posts.

Thank You To ALL STUDENTS, STAFF and PARTICIPATES!

Taken By - Fashion Storm

Waking up to see the damages outside the window. I didnt go home last night, and I heard about the mess my home town has become due to this storm through my parents on the phone. Trees down all over and live wires caught fire near my house! Still now 7:30pm on this Sunday evening they dont have any power or water running. It's been a bummish day watching televison reruns back to back of PROJECT RUNWAY! It really is addicting! Berkeley has a well-known and amazing Fashion program with alot of great connections! If you are interesting in making fashion not just a hobby or interest and want to make a career out of it - Berkeley's program is perfect for you! They have so many great courses that will prepare you for your future in the fashion world! Even if you search the web you will come across an article about a young woman Kendra Haffoney whom was a Berkeley college student from 2001 through 2005. She was a Fashion Marketing and Managment Major - her webpage lays out that her most accomplished events where as follows:

Contestant on VH1’s Reality Show, “I Want to Work for Diddy”
Sean John Eyewear Ad Campaign
2nd Annual Charles David & Vogue New York Trunk Show
Project New York Trade Show
Project Las Vegas Trade Show
LA Market Fashion Week
Gen Art’s Fresh Faces of Fashion in Los Angeles

Following her information profile that I had discovered was here company website!
http://www.cettu.com/
Lovely hand bangs that are featured in well-known fashion stores including the famous and one of my personal favorites - KITSON! Also, these beautiful hand bags have been seen in such magazines like Elle, Marie Clare, and Lucky!

Check it out!- what an awesome acomplishment!

I will be interviewing a fashion major and give you the inside scoop of the fashion world threw the eyes of a student about to be set into the world after school training and practice!

Stay Tuned!

STORMING

Light rain. Cloudy with strong and gusty winds. Temperatures steady in the mid 40s. Winds up to about 40 mph. Sounds great, huh?

This weather is insane, thank god I don't have a class to attend on Saturdays like some friends I have at their schools. It's terrible out and dangerous. 4 trees have already been knocked down near my home. Most of my friends lost power so I am fortunate to be blogging right now. While also checking my grades on black-board where I shall get my info about my up-coming final exams. I have a final exam for my business class next Thursday. I am very nervous. My professor had told me that if we have any questions we shall e-mail him as soon as possible and he will help us.

Right now, I am currently downloading the file that has the questions, he had posted up on blackboard. There is about 6 and 3 out of those will be chosen to be the final. I better start studying now than! Might as well since driving conditions and weather is absolutely horrendous!

My professor has also posted up the following:


NYTimes: Critical Thinking and the Future Manager

"As I mentioned the first day of class, Critical Thinking skills and conceptual understanding are the Competitive Advantages of the future manager (like you )"
Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10mba.html?emc=eta1

I read and realized my professor is right on target. Especially when I read this statement:

“If I’m going to really launch you on a career or path where you can make a big impact in the world,” explains the school’s dean, Garth Saloner, “you have to be able to think critically and analytically about the big problems in the world.” -(New York Times Article)

Another part of the article that grabbed my attention was:

"Students in the critical-thinking course explore difficult, broad problems that require value-laden trade-offs. For example, should Google locate its servers for Chinese customers outside China, which might provide inferior service, or inside China, where material could be censored?" - (New York Times Article)

This was a huge topic of discussion in our class. China seems to be taking over alot of things and starting to become the next US. Everyday they are speeding up. It's pretty amazing to follow through news articles.

Well, I'll update you later! Have to look up the two Factor Theory of Herzberg's Theory of Motivation.

*UPDATE*

As promised here is an update on my interview today.

I dressed up but still something comfortable yet presentable.

The manager asked me these questions:

" Tell me about yourself, who are you, what makes you YOU?"
"What would you bring to the table, and how is it a good advantage for our brand?"
"What do you do in your spare time?"
"What brands do you like and enjoy wearing?"
"At your previous job, what were you doing?"
"Did someone help you get that job?"
"How do you react to all sorts of different people?"
"How do you describe your best customer service experiance?"

I tried to stay calm because personally I know I get nervous and turn red.
Hope these questions help prepare you for your interviews!



REMINDER: Please take the Student Poll in the Student Center of the Bergen Campus - What is your favorite Class? - I will be collecting this data by the end of next week!

SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY

As you may have read previously in other blogs, you may recall that I was laid-off about 2 months ago. Jobs are so hard to find right now. I need the income to continue paying my bills and to go to school so I applied to little shops and I got an interview today. WISH ME LUCK. Times are tough! Check out the facts:

Labor force status: Unemployment rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over


Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2000 4.0 4.1 4.0 3.8 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.1 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9
2001 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.9 5.0 5.3 5.5 5.7
2002 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.9 6.0
2003 5.8 5.9 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.8 5.7
2004 5.7 5.6 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.4
2005 5.3 5.4 5.2 5.2 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.9 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.9
2006 4.7 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4
2007 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.7 5.0
2008 5.0 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.4 5.5 5.8 6.1 6.2 6.6 6.9 7.4
2009 7.7 8.2 8.6 8.9 9.4 9.5 9.4 9.7 9.8 10.1 10.0 10.0
2010 9.7 9.7

Headlines of the news are still upsetting when it comes to unemployment. For example, Obama's Stimulus Package Will Increase Unemployment - President Obama and the Democrats’ “stimulus” package will increase the unemployment rate. The changes they propose will also make us poorer, with fewer, less productive jobs.

I hope to get this job! I go today around 2:30. I will post later after and tell you all how it went! In my Business Class we just went over good interview skills and what employers are looking for! Good thing!

TRUE LIFE

All day today while cleaning my room and gathering notes for school, Ive been watching MTV's True-Life series of real life situations among teens and young adults. I watched two episodes one about young people that are deaf and trying to live a normal functioning lifestyle and another about people that struggle with the disability of stuttering. Out of the two people for the episode about being deaf, the one girl Amanda was 21 years old and was trying out for the professional dance team and MTV followed her success and struggles. She made it to the ending second half auditions but didn't make the cut. I felt for her, no not because she had a disability but because she was a nice girl, friendly to everyone, practices very hard and has been dancing for years with her struggle and was very talented. As for the episode with stuttering there was a few people and every single one, every time they made a phone call and they would stutter the person on the other end would hang up.

That must be so hard for them, I can only imagine. It made me think about school believe it or not. At Berkeley everyone is so friendly and with the small good sized classes we have, its easy to make friends. In class last night my classmates and I were discussing that. We enjoy the environment of Berkeley College.


REMINDER!

STOP LUGGING AND DRAGGING YOUR BOOKS AROUND!
SELL THEM FOR CASH TO THE BERKELEY BOOK STORE

Textbook Buy Back

Monday - Thursday
March 22- 25th
10:30 AM - 6:30 PMBergen/Paramus Campus

CARTOON NETWORK

ATTENTION ALL ART/GRAPHICS MAJORS





During my trip to the city, I was able to experience the Cartoon Network Exhibit.


I was able to see the original sketches of the cartoons you watch on the network itself.


Anyone who has a love for art, would have enjoyed the visit.



I believe it was in promotion to the up coming talk of the season - Rapper T-Pain's creation.


Rapper/producer T-Pain, who is currently wrapping up work on latest album, RevolveR, has made an appearance on the cartoon scene. The 1 hour cartoon extravaganza, Freaknik: The Musical, made its premiere on Sunday night on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The show is about teenagers who want to attend a spring break party in Atlanta that was canceled back in 1999. Rappers Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and Big Boi were all involved in the show.

Other Art work featured were from Power Puff Girls, Samurai Sam, Superman, The Jetsons, and Star Wars. They also had live model's molded on display as well.

Class Updates

Currently in my Computer Applications Class we just completed Power Point and now working on Excel. I never knew you could do all these crazy things in Excel like we do with Microsoft Word, its surprising. Power Point was kind of easy for me but, I have a feeling I'm going to have some trouble with Excel.

Get Involved / Reminders

1. Please take time to take my student poll in the Student Center of the Bergen-Paramus Campus about which class is your favorite here at Berkeley! Thank You!
2. & Also, just a reminder - March 26th - Wear Purple for Purple Day!

Talk to you soon, Tonight Im going to try and finish reading at least 5 chapter's of Nicholas Spark's The Last Song!