Friday, July 23, 2010

Kerry Anderson – A Cinderella Story

Kerry Anderson, now 26-year-old, graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in government a few weeks ago. It’s an honor to graduate from one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Kerry’s background makes her even more special.
When Kerry was 12 years old, she and her young brother began to travel with their mom, Linda, a cross-country truck driver. They were home-schooled for many years while riding in the cab of a big rig crossing America. They learnt the basics of reading and writing not only from books, but also from the trips. They helped their mother plan travel routes and calculate how long it would take to reach a new destination - a practical education in geography and math.

By the time she was ready for college; Kerry took a break from the road and converted into conventional classroom studies at Valencia Community College in Central Florida. It was a different experience. She had to learn how to study in a new atmosphere. With her steely confidence and can-do character, she got very involved in extracurricular activities, student government, and community service projects. She earned a place on the dean's list and was also named 2007's distinguished graduate by Valencia's Alumni Association, giving her the honor to address more than 4,500 classmates at graduation.

After graduating from Valencia, Kerry wasn't sure where she was going to do next. Then she received an e-mail from someone claiming to be a Harvard University recruiter and wanted her to transfer with a full scholarship. At first, she and her mom thought the invitation might be a scam. After spending considerable time researching the unbelievable offer, they concluded it was genuine. Although Harvard turns away thousands of applicants every year and seldom takes transfer students – let along from an unknown community college, her story touched the recruiter who liked her experience. Now her experience and story become part of the university's.

After graduation, she is preparing to go to law school and eventually has a career in foreign policy and international relations. Her unique experience provides her with the perspective to deal with different people and things. As she said, "You need to understand how things started in order to learn how to fix things."

We wish her success in her future endeavor.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Teenagers’ Bill of Right and Responsibility

The 12 items listed below address many of the legal right and moral obligations teenagers have to their family and the society.

1. We, as teenagers, have a right to be treated with respect.

2. We have the right to say no and not feel guilty.

3. We have the right to make mistakes or change our minds.

4. We have the right to know what is happening within our own home.

5. We have the right to ask questions and expect answers about all things which may affect us and the family.

6. We have the obligation to respect and love our parents and siblings.

7. We have the obligation to let our parents know where we are, who our friends are, and who we are with at any time.

8. We have the obligation to communicate with parents about our school-related academic and social activities.

9. We have the obligation to fulfill the assigned chores and other family responsibilities appropriate to our ages.

10. We are obligated to follow house rules and understand the appropriate consequences.

11. We are obligated to participate in family activities, which may include meals, outings, study time, vacations, and other family together.

12. We are obligated not to attend at activities where alcohol or drug usage may occur.

Inception - Ellen Page

This week’s thriller Inception gave us another chance to see the lovely young Canadian actress Ellen Page. She was well known for her role as the title character in the film Juno which got her both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in 2007.


Although being described as Hollywood’s next rising star and nominated for Time's 100 Most Influential People list in 2008, Ellen Page isn’t interested in being a celebrity. She reckons it’s best to stay out of the paparazzi spotlight of Los Angeles and keep things low key. “I think if you want it and you want to live that way, you can.”, she admitted during an interview, “and you can also choose to totally not live that way. I’m from Nova Scotia. I don’t know, it’s just not me. And I think you can avoid it.” He lives in a small apartment in her home town in Canada, drives a used car. “I think you can lose your equilibrium,” she once said. “But I think that has a lot to do with how your personality chooses to handle it. I mean I have my own place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and that’s where I like to spend my free time. I think being here where I’m from – which is a small city on the east coast of Canada – there’s just a different mentality here.” She adds: “I’m doing it (movie) because I feel really passionate. If I wanted to be in LA and do that thing, I could do that. But Halifax is my homebase.”

“Acquiring things fills me with anxiety,” says Page, now 23. “I’m constantly trying to give away things.” Her un-Hollywood-like lifestyle does not seem to hurt the easygoing young actress’s career. This week, she co-stars with leonardo DiCaprio in the highly anticipated sci-fi thriller Inception. With regarding to her future project, she said “I don’t think I have any rules. I just love to go with the flow and be happy and creative and still feel that passion. I definitely don’t want to lose that.”

Ellen Page was born on February 21, 1987, the daughter of a teacher mother and a graphic designer father. She began acting at age 4 and first acted in front of the camera in 1997 at age 10 in a television movie. When she was 13, she was offered a role in a high profile sitcom but her parents made her turn it down, telling her she was too young to handle the pressures of fame. She’s glad her parents refused to let her become a child star. While she admits to being angry at that time, she now sees their decision was “a good thing”: “I would have had to move to LA and I can’t even imagine what I would be like now. [My parents] said keep up your grades and then you can act.

This reminds me Lindsay Lohan, another Hollywood young actress of almost the same age. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in 1998 at the age of 11. She certainly has her talent as an actress, model and pop singer-songwriter. Unfortunately, what we know most is the significant publicity surrounding her personal life, including rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction, and DUI convictions


You can choose your life, right? Sometimes, maybe not.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Some Saving Tips

As you have seen, in the past two years, many families are battling the wide spread economy recession. Millions are looking for ways to shave dollars and dimes from their daily expenses. You may be able to help too. Here are some tips.

1. Avoid long shower. A 15-minute daily shower costs about $300 a year. Cutting the time to 10 minutes will save about $100 annually. Use a low-flow shower head and also turn off the water when applying bath soap.

2. Sell your used books. At www.cash4books.net or www.sellbackyourbook.com, you type in the book's ISBN number to get an offer. After filling out a prepaid mailing label, box the books and send them off.

3. Get free stuff. Join the local bulletin board at www.freecycle.org or use website such as www.swaptree.com and post what you want to give away or something you're looking for. You also help to save the environment.

4. Free knowledge. There are many free online college courses, including those from well-known universities like Yale. MIT and Stanford. Visit http://www.educatlonportal.com/.

5. Buy giftcards for up to 30% off their face value at

www.plastlcjungle.com
http://www.giftcardrescue.com/

6. Promotional codes can get you discounts of up to 50 percent from online shopping sites. Try these websites to grab for yourself.

www.retailmenot.com
http://www.couponchief.com/
http://www.currentcodes.com/
http://www.freeshipping.org/

7. Avoid high ticket prices for plays, concerts, sports, exhibits and other events in major U.S. cities by getting a free membership at www.goldstar.com. Get free general admission to more than 100 museums, Zoos and science centers, botanical gardens on the first full weekend of each month if you have a Bank of America ATM, credit or check card. Get details at museums.bankofamerica.com.

8. Buy the huge popcorn at the movies for about $6. A small bag is about $4, so Instead of buying four small ones, buy one huge bag and split it.

9. Most mobile carriers charge a lot for directory assistance calls placed to 411. You can avoid it by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 or 1-800-FREE-411.

10. Keep the sticker and the receipt when you buy a new cloth. You may change your mind and want to return it after a few days. Only buy cloth that you are actually going to wear. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright once said "Only wear pantyhose when absolutely necessary. it's one less thing to spend money on."

11. At least $33 billion "unclaimed property" sits in state treasuries and waiting to be returned to its rightful owners. This is from near 120 million accounts that are inactive or whose owners or their heirs cannot be located - including money from forgotten bank accounts, stocks, insurance policies as well as uncashed paychecks and dividends. By law, if financial institutions and companies can’t locate the owners, the money is turned over to the government of the state in which the account owner last resided. The best way is to use the following two websites and search every state where your parents and grandparents have lived, including those of deceased family members.

www.missingmoney.com
http://www.unclaimed.org/

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Speedy Math 2 – Transformation in Addition and Subtraction

Addition of two single digit numbers is easy. It becomes more difficult when the numbers contain more digits. In these cases, changing the number(s) first to an equal form can make the calculation much easier.

For example, 198 + 277
Step 1: 198 = 200 – 2
Step 2: 200 + 277 = 477 (or 277 – 2 = 275)
Step 3: 477 - 2 = 475 (or 200 + 275 = 475)

Another example, 673 – 395
Step 1: 395 = 400 – 5
Step 2: 673 – 5 = 668
Step 3: 400 + 668 = 1068