In Love...

Yes indeed, I'm alone again.
And here comes emptiness crashing in.
It's either love or hate,
I can't find in between,
'cause I've been with witches and I've been with a queen.

It WILL work out everyday, everyway.
but now it's just another lonely day.
Further along we just may.
But for now it's just another lonely day.

Wish there was something now I could say or do.
I can resist anything but the temptation from you.

It WILL  work out everyday in everyway.
but now it's just another lovely day.
Further along we just might go.
But for now, it's just another lovely day.

Yesterday seems like a life ago,
'cause the one I love today, I feel like I hardly know,
You I hold so close in my heart, Oh dear,
Grow closer to me with every fallen tear.

It WILL work out everyday in anyway.
but now it's just another lovely day.
Further along we just may.
But for now it's just another lovely day.

This is love, that much I know

Because if and when I ever let go,

I always know that some day

You will come back to me, this time to stay! 

I LOVE YOU!

Traditional Christmas Tree

        A Christmas tree is a real life symbol that most place in the home after Thanksgiving and decorate it with lights, ornaments, garlands and tinsel. An angel or a star is often placed at the top of the tree as well, but do you really know what the tree and its items symbolize?

        The tradition of decorating a tree during Christmas started back in the 16^th century in Germany. One meaning that was established by Martin Luther as a Protestant was the tree was a part of the Catholic Nativity scene. He established the Christmas tree as a symbol of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. In some cities, the decorating and display of Christmas trees is organized as charity events.

        Along with charities and the Nativity scene, some people use Christmas trees as a symbol of the cross at Easter. Both Ezekiel 47:12 and the Book of Revelation 22:2 use trees as a symbol of new fruitful life, compared to the Tree of life denied Adam in Genesis 3:22-23. Paul makes the link between Adam and Christ clear in Romans chapter 5.

        I believe that in the same way the Christmas tree can be seen as mirroring the tree of life, a symbol of the crucifix which brings redemption. So when setting up your tree this year, real or fake, take a second to think, why is it that you have a Christmas tree set up in your house this year?

Black Friday Craze

This year's bargain shoppers brave the freezing weather throughout the wee hours of the night to get their hands on the best deals of the season. It has been said that there were more shoppers out purchasing items this year than there was last year when such indulgences were limited. It is an encouraging sign for retailers and for the economy.

Traffic was fast and furious even when talking about advertising for the few hours the day after Thanksgiving. Companies started creating attraction earlier with more TV commercials. Marketing analysts monitoring stores said many people were paying with cash and were focused. They had done plenty of research before venturing out into the hustle and bustle of the sales.

Although when surveyed many of the shoppers were not shopping for deals on presents for the holidays, but for deals on items for themselves. Most said that they would still keep an eye out for present ideas, but the main event was to purchase merchandice for personal use. Retail analyst Cohen, who had a team of consultants monitoring 11 regions, estimated that 15 percent of purchases so far on Friday were items for the shoppers themselves, up from about 9 percent last year on the same day. On Black Friday 2008, he estimated it dropped to about 5 percent. "In good economic times, such purchases run about 26 percent," Cohen said.

At the Walmart store customers came in waves, with a big rush at midnight when toys and clothing went on sale and then another surge just before cut-rate electronics were hauled out at 5 a.m. Parking spots were in short supply and shopping carts were even more scarce. Companies averted the dangers of years past by keeping its doors open all night to head off potential stampedes. Shoppers instead lined up for tickets entitling them to heavily discounted TVs and computers and then camped out in cordoned-off aisles. While the system kept things orderly, some shoppers didn't appreciate it. Some where upset that when trying to purchase small items that were on sale, the had to literally step over people laying in the middle of the aisles.

The fierce battle for shoppers' wallets promises savings for those willing and able to buy amoungst an economy that is still worrying many. Still, nearly 15 million are unemployed, and concerns about job security cloud consumer confidence. Spending may be picking up yes, but that has not returned to pre-recession levels. No matter the situation a person is in, Tis the season for giving, and I intend to take advatage of these sales and do just that!

Banana Bread - the best ever made

The best recipes come tried and true from friends. That's the wonderful thing about sharing recipes, we don't all have to go through the trials and tribulations to get the best results. This recipe is the best out there when it comes to banana bread! I have never had a more moist bread than this recipe. Try it and let me know what you think!


Banana Bread Recipe
INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

METHOD
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Technology in Restaraunts on a RISE

I have recently read about new Restaurant Technology that I am finding to be truly fascinating. Usually when a restaurant wants to gain better customer satisfaction they change their decor, or sometimes even their layout, but not anymore.

    In Atlanta, a restaurant is using iPads to replace their wine list because of the fact that they have an extensive list of more than 1,300 wines. This will provide them with solutions to menu options and questions that the consumers may have to allow them to order with ease. Not to mention in New York there is a new restaurant where customers can order their food online for pickup or delivery, they can also order via an iPad in the restaurant, or even view recent tweets by and about the restaurant!

    Technology seems to be single handedly supporting restaurant managers’ efforts to increase sales and profits through revenue management. By subdividing meals into their component sections, a manager can figure out what provides the greatest revenue benefit for that particular restaurant. Correctly implemented, technology can more than offset its cost with increased revenue.

    So what if we get to the point where every restaurant changes their style to using constant technology, to increase sales and revenue? Are we also going to decrease the ability to become personable with customers? What is going to be restaurants game plan to ensure that they can involve the ease of technology with the feel of a family environment?

Advertising & Teen's close relationship

                Teens are currently the most studied culture in America. To win their demographic loyalty the companies throughout the world must study what they want and what they think is trendy at that time. To do this most companies use the tactic of a culture spy or also known as a correspondent. This person will search and document teens and their structure in ways that would not be accepted by them if a large organization were to attempt it. They study the 20% of teens who are the trendsetters, and will be able to show the others what is chic. Once they obtain this way of life they present their findings to companies who will then portray it in their advertising.
                MTV is an example of how the media is reflected directly off the culture of teens. They transformed advertising by incorporating it into its actual television programming. MTV launched a commercial concept to show record company’s promotional videos in the form of creative TV programming. They also used set on shows that would portray trend in clothes, to appeal to the viewers as the now trend in fashion and products that they should have.  They learned within the past few years though that they have to continue to change to stay with the demographic culture of teens. They immersed themselves in research to learn what teens really want to hear and see, and then also used those findings to portray their advertising in actual television programming to constantly stay on top of the style.  
                I believe that advertising and teens do share a symbolic relationship, but to stay on top of the fad there is a fine line between research and affecting the lives of those they are studying.  If we are using correspondents to interview and screen kids to see who is normal and in the trend, then who is really deciding what that is? Marketing groups are looking on how to make money and that is understandable but looking at a different side, we don’t need a weatherman to tell us if it is raining outside or not. I believe a lot of advertising and marketing is too close to the demographics they are trying to target. I don’t think we should stop researching how teens live their lives but take an indirect approach about it rather than involving them to the point where they are unaware the feedback of the advertising is and indistinct copy of themselves.

411 on Thanksgiving!!!

I am thankful for:
My family, your family, and all the food im going to get to eat from your family!!!

Enjoy Thanksgiving and be sure to let the people who you appreciate know that you... that you oh ya.. That you really appreciate them. Many of them are old and probably won't be around a long time. Please remind them of this while you are expressing your appreciation! Ask them what they think you could get for their wedding ring or their truck. This way, they'll realize that yes, there was a reason that you attended their dinner for this holiday.

Remember, they love you and want you to be happy so feel free to give them your list of must have, most expensive things, that you would need for Christmas. No need to tell them thanks in advance, as they already know how much you appreciate the gifts they give you that never fit, and they'd only be embarrassed.

Please remember to stay out of the way during the preperation of Thanksgiving Dinner. Everyone knows you'd like to help out with making squash or slicing the turkey. But if you ask if they need help, they'll only say yes to be nice to you since that's what family does. Don't make it all about you. Sit down and let them feel good about serving you. Same goes for clean-up. You're better off keeping your eyes on the deserts to make sure those youngsters don't eat all of your favorite pie. Besides like I said before, they are getting old and like their space, especially when doing dishes.

Also... Don't let little cousins win all the games that they drag you into playing. They will appreciate the opportunity to finally play a fair game. Convince them that winning isn't everything. They're about to enter the real world and need to learn that it's tough out there.

With that all being said enjoy your TURKEY DAY!

Visceral Shock - horrific advertisements

Barnardo’s ads try to provide light for those who may be living in poverty. To me some of their ads have gone too far and have been lawfully banned from public viewing. Barnardo's use shock tactics to tackle child poverty, but this strategy rebounded and they were reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after hours of viewing. The first in the series of newspaper ads from Barnardo's shows a new-born baby with a cockroach crawling out of his mouth. Another illustrates a baby with a silver spoon in its mouth and the third campaign features a baby with a mentholated spirits bottle in its mouth while the final one shows a baby with a syringe. If the images are too shocking to look at, the threat to this advertisement is that we become too uncomfortable to look at all. This shouldn’t be what the company wants to be trying to get across.

 I believe that this is a clearly depicted visceral shock advertisement and personally I am glad that it was stricken from being placed in any future advertisements but unfortunately those pictures weren’t the only type of ad that was complained about coming from Barnardo’s.

A TV ad for children's charity Barnardo's featuring a girl being repeatedly hit about the head by her father has been cleared by the advertising regulator despite almost 500 complaints that it was distressing and offensive. The commercial aims to show how a lifetime of abuse leads a young girl into a cycle of drugs, jail and poverty. The ad shows a looped sequence of five scenes that speed up to exaggerate the repeated character of abuse.

I don’t agree with either of these forms of advertising from this company. I think that both of these are degrading and horrific types of advertisements. However I have a feeling that this company chose to do these ad and commercial, possibly knowing they would have this negative reaction to it, but then also presenting a more widely broadcasted advertisement. If I think about this in the opposite, I think that these ads were shown more now than they probably would have been because of how many complaints and stories were distributed after the initial viewing. Were these ads effective? I would say yes, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with the vividly detailed way they were shown.