MTA makes me Angryface a lot

Does anyone ever wonder why the MTA is allowed to be a monopoly when their are so many antitrust and antimonopoly laws in our society. Can anyone really argue that the MTA is not a monopoly in New York? The public has no other option but to take the fair hikes and just pay them but its starting to get unrealistic!

I remember when the bus fair was $1.50 and it stayed that way all throughout my childhood, but now they want to raise it from $2.25 to $2.50. Although it may seem like a barely significant change it becomes quite noticeable when you look at the fair increase in monthly metrocards- a favorite of college students.

Monthly metrocards will be jumping from $89 to $104 a high increase for the already broke college students paying $25,000 tuition a year. Not to mention they've been cutting services left and right. buses that used to come every 7 minutes come 4 times an hour and usually all at once. Trains don't seem to ever run on weekends, and even on weekdays I normally have to deal with a train being over crowded because they cut back on the service.

Why is it that they cut services and ask us to pay more. Does anyone understand how a company can ask us to pay more for less of a good? I believe the MTA needs to be regulated by the state as a state program of transportation NOT a business.

I mean, we're constantly being told to help the environment, and unclog the city by using public transportation, but they're making traveling rather irritating. Not to mention they keep raising toll prices, which makes it hard to get into the city at all.

The MTA is a monopoly, which is allowed to exist because it was given the 'OK', but because it's ran as a business its filled with crooked higher-ups who give themselves raises freely and raise the fare of their irked subjects who are forced to pay.

Explain to me how this is productive to our environment? I would love to hear what you guys think.

Words of the wise college girl: If the MTA continues this way find a way to sleep in your first class so you'll get there in time.

Zumba and Scrabble

Hey guys so, for once I'm actually posting from the comfort of my own home, and I just felt a dire need to mention how much I love Zumba.

Zumba is a fairly new workout class that involves a mixture of different dancing, though hip hop and latin seem to be most prominent, and I must say it doesn't feel like a workout. I genuinely feel like I'm just hanging out and dancing with a bunch of friends. Its so unlike most step classes where your eyes will dart occasionally to the clock. Zumba is like having a party where you just dance and have fun. Oh, and for the record the dances aren't the classic stretches that most aerobics classes call 'dancing'. In Zumba you are getting low and shaking you butt!

Although it may not feel like you are working out it is a great workout nonetheless. An hour of Zumba burns on average 600 calories. From experience it also makes you just feel better with all the movement and catchy songs its hard not to smile and laugh.

Outside of Zumba I have become re-addicted to my most beloved board game- Scrabble. over the last few days I've played 10 games online and haven't lost a single one. I was wondering if their are any other Berkeley College students that like scrabble, if so perhaps we can form a little group within the school. After all, their is club hour still.

Todays words of the wise 19 year old: Always bring water when going to the gym, and try not to get sweat in your eye... it hurts.

Homework >.>

So, as many of you may know from previous blogs this was the semester I decided I was going to stop being a lazy procrastinator and do my work early- not on the date of the deadline. So far I think I'm doing pretty well, I'm ahead two assignments in Principals of Finance, and I haven't missed any assignments in any other class. I find that I even anticipated assignments before they come out because I'm eager to clear my plate so they wont get in the way.

It's all very odd because I find that this productivity has carried over to more than just school work. I have been going to the gym more often, keeping my room cleaner, and just doing everything in a more timely manner. Perhaps it is possible to change who you are with a little work. Well, not 'who you are', but definitely get rid of some bad habits.

My principals of finance teacher even told me I should look into majoring in finance because I'm so bright in the subject. personally I think he is confusing good work ethic with intellect. I still find that the only subject that comes naturally for me is law and due to such I should become a lawyer.

Regardless, I'm just proud to say I have tamed my procrastinating ways and that everyone else out there should do the same. in retrospective I'm kind of procrastinating right now instead of writing a 15 page paper that's due in a month from now. I suppose I'll never be perfect in the whole scheme of things.

Word of the wise: If you risk nothing, you risk even more.

Accelerated Courses

This semester I decided to not only take my first online course, but also my first accelerated course. An accelerated course last half the normal term but is worth the same amount of credits. However, it is said that the work is a lot harder because is tightly packed in all at once.

This being only the second week I have already taken 1 GHA, been required to write 8 discussion board posts(I wrote more than 8 though), handed in a 1-2 paged homework assignment, and read a total of 4 chapters. I must say in comparison to my regular ethics course it seems to be very fast paced.

The reason I bring up my regular ethics course is because the online accelerated course is business ethics and I find the two are closely related. So far in ethics all we've done is review the international declaration of human rights. Personally I find myself taking a shine to the fast paced online accelerated course because I enjoy doing my work when I am free, rather than attending a class every certain day at a set time.

Furthermore I find the discussion board to be my most favorite tool in all of blackboard because it forces students to interact and have a discussion about a posed question. I for one enjoy this because theirs no awkward pause like their is in class in, which the professor must mediate. Perhaps its because I'm a thriving girl who lives off of the computer age, but I love the ideas behind it.

Grade wise in the class I have gotten a 92 on my GHA, a 100 on by written assignment, and complete 4/4 on my discussion board posts. So with a positive view I hope that I can achieve my first A on an online course!

Todays words of the wise: "Life is what happens while your trying to please everyone else." John Lenin

Day 2 Ethics and Business Law II

So, just like on last Tuesday I find myself in the midtown manhattan library writing to you guys about how my day has been so far. To start I suppose I should talk about Business Law II and Ethics which I had also yesterday but I didn't mention.

Nothing significant happened in Business Law II because the professor hadn't posted the syllabus yet and just generalized what the class would be about. However, I do find that he seems like a funny guy and that I think he'll make this class a very interesting one. One of the things he asked when he started the class off was if the stand fell on him and broke his nose could he sue. The answer was no because he is an employer for Berkeley college and would receive workers compensation instead.

Ethics was slightly more involving because the professor ignited my argumentative side and caused me to inquire on how he can personally claim that humans are good by nature. He claimed that as children we have an innate sense of fair and unfair and because of that we are good by nature but occasionally flawed. My rebuttal was simply a child only cares when they themselves are the one being treated unfairly. If they are the favored child then they wouldn't complain. It is because of this, that my conclusion is humans by nature are governed by self interest.

As for my second day of Principals of Finance it started of pretty bad but ended pretty good. I was late for the class at first because of the horrible rain and slow train service and got the glare of death from the professor when I walked in. However once I opened up my laptop and organized all my things the professor called on me to answer a series of questions. Luckily for me being the nerd I am I had done the assignments 2 in advance so I knew everything he was talking about even though I hadn't heard the previous discussion.

After proving my knowledge to the professor class continues up until break where I had a slight conversation with another student- his name eludes me. He was a senior in Berkeley and asked if he could check the questions he had for the first assignment with mine because he used the book in the school library. I obliged and showed him the questions which were the correct ones he was suppose to do. In the end we had a brief conversation on the price of textbooks and I offered to send him the correct question for the first two assignments so he would be able to do his homework while he waited for the next textbook.

Words of the wise: Make friends with people who you may need in the future its called networking.

Day one of class!

Hey guys, so I'm on my 2 hour break right now after just finishing my first class of Principals of Finance. The class seems pretty good and I was on time luckily because he seems to be a real stickler on arriving on time. The professors name is Elliot Ponchick and overall he seems like a rather interesting guy. I don't have much of an opinion on this class just yet because it was the first day but I'm sure I'll do just fine in it.

Sadly I HAD to buy the textbook. I bought the ebook of for $114; my bank account is in pain right now. All of his homeworks are directly taken from the text and require you to have done the reading beforehand. I really like the fact that he posts all the homework beforehand because being the nerd that I am I'll try and complete them all within the next week or so. After all, I really like my perfect average.

So as I stated before I have a wonderful 2 hour break which I'm on right now. Since I am in the midtown campus this semester I decided to return to my favorite place near the school- the manhattan midtown library.

The library is right around the corner of the 'B' building and offers a quite place to read, go online, or do work. Before college I was never a fan of libraries but ever since I stumbled into this library I find this place very relaxing. I suppose I'll start that mesh of work for finance now though.

Words of Advice: Being ahead may not be the best thing but doing homework ahead is always a benefit .

Textbooks

So, textbooks... I hate them! honestly I find that I've bought countless textbooks for stuff I could have just looked up online numerous times and I must say it is very upsetting. this semester I won't be buying my textbooks until I absolutely need them because shelling out $200 for a pointless book I'll never use just seems like such a waste.

I find it so upsetting that companies overprice these books because they know college students are forced to pay the outrageous prices. Normally I'll buy e-books which should be significantly cheeper since they have no material cost but their only $20 cheaper than the hardcover counterparts.

The benefits for e-books over textbooks are the following: 1) No back problems by lugging them around, and 2) easy searching.

I hate the thought of buying more textbooks so I'll wait until last minute aka when a homework is assigned. Words of advice: Last minute might be a good thing....