House pix

I got this on a whim and the good is a wonderful location, quiet street by the med school. The bad, needs work.


living room



lr opposite view

bedroom #3

 front bedroom showing crack. No leaks

wall cracks in closet

kitchen

bathroom

top floor ceiling wall with plaster damage

cut copper in basement. All other copper in house intact.

mechanicals. gas furnace looks old.


basement facing front

garage firewall that needs repair.

garage. door is new

Kaplan Verbal section tests

Everytime i take one of these, it freezes at least once. Then i have to restart again. Today, it freezes when i'm 42 minutes through and when i restart, it starts me at 35minutes to go. Now i was watching the clock each time. quite distracting and it doesn't make me want to use them. So, i'll start using EK.

I bought Berkeley reviews verbal and so far it's proven to be a complete waste of money in that i haven't used it. In hindsight, I should never have sent in that order.

The Berkeley Review ugly experience

Most people complain about their ordering system which I think is OK. Sending in a form as opposed to online ordering may seem a thing of the distant past but it's not that archaic.

Here's what's interesting, sent in two forms the same day in 2 separate envelopes. Had planned to send for their verbal books but decided after filling it out to send order the CBTs while at it and to avoid confusion since i'd already put down a CC number for the verbal stuff and wanted to pay with a check for the CBTs, I mailed them in 2 different envelopes.

Got an email with tracking info for the books 2days prior to arrival and they did get here on time as stated in the email.

I sent an email to them on April 19th by hitting the reply button on the email that sent the confirmation but then changed the subject to MCAT CTBT start date. In that email, I made a request for the start date to be pushed from 4/22 to May 2nd. I asked at the end if it was OK and for them to let me know if it is.
NO RESPONSE.  An error on my part was the assumption that no response meant "it's OK". Didn't have the tests activated so I emailed a person with the company since i had their email address in my gmail and they activated the exams since i needed them right asap. Sent an email to the email address on TBR website stating I do have access to the exams so i don't need them and also wondering why my email was never replied to.

Called today because a friend wanted to find out what their deal was and Not only was the lady rude, but she was plain ignorant. First she tells me an email was sent to me and when I said it wasn't received, she tells me "maybe you can't read". Her tone overall as just rude and nasty. She just went on to say do you want to speak to my manager. Talk to him and he's  not overtly rude but I just think it might be more pleasant dealing with the devil himself. He goes on to deactivate the exams I was given because I'm not supposed to be given access to the 9exams. Oh, they also said they called me but "heard a click". Asked them what that means but anyway I also go on to ask if they're calling with a blocked number because my phone doesn't accept calls from blocked numbers.
Well, we received the order on April 18th which was 2 weeks ago. Um, even if it was april 18th, it'll be 3 weeks ago. I countered that by saying the check went through my account on April 11th so how do you get the check that was with the order form but not get the order form itself till the 18th, considering they were both mailed in the same envelope. He gets the nerve to tell me that "assuming what you're saying is true then  April 18th is when we first tried to contact you".  He asks to cut the conversation short and call back within 10minutes. We both realize my phone won't allow a blocked call to come through so he offers to email me so i can call when he's done with whatever.

He emails much, much later and in that email is a whole bunch of nonsense. In addition to deactivating the current 9 exams i have, they found another 5 exam account with my name which while he believes isn't from the current homestudy form, it has been deactivated. I did mention to him from the beginning that i got their number from an earlier CBT order i'd placed a while back. Infact I gave those exams to someone else to use. I did point out to him how moronic it is to just deactivate anything in my name considering it could be an account being used by someone else. Truth be told, i was going to give this to someone else to use had they activated it when i thought they would.

I was told TBR never responds to email. My encounter with them has verified that statement. I did send an email to the person who gave me access to those 9exams thanking them for their generosity. My study buddy, who was waiting to hear back from me texted and I said TBR isn't paramount to getting a 40+ on the MCAT. I know people who've made 41 and 42 and they used TPR and kaplan respectively.

I'm starting to think the writing has always been on the wall and perhaps i'm not meant to use these exams. I do have more full lengths than I can use before exam date. Whatever it is God has a purpose for everything. And by God's strength I'll destroy this exam and Call me crazy but I'm getting into HMS with a scholarship by God's grace.
What's important now is that i keep doing the FL consistently. Even if I did one every other day, I won't finish the ones i have access to now. Why get more?

La Fitness is the absolute worst gym

on earth.

I'll say some of the people I dealt with at the whitemarsh Bally's now turned La Fitness were ok to pleasant to deal with. Had an idiot who calls himself nick call me and he was ignorant and plain rude. Told me the first month's payment i made when i signed up was the 30days prior to that. when i asked him why I have to pay for a time prior to signing up he tells me that's how it works. Ask him a few other questions and he gets the audacity to hang up on me. Call back and speak to even more stupid girl who uses the word "um" ten times in a single sentence. From the look of things, someone was telling her what to say because when i ask the questions, She goes "hold on" listens and then answers me.

Either way, I walked to the gym and cancelled my membership today. I did pay that balance they couldn't charge to my card and when i asked the guy what happens to the last month payment i made when i signed up, he then goes your membership is good for another month from now. I'm going to use it because i really need to practice my swimming. In hindsight, I regret cancelling my membership at the YMCA. The Y has a clean facility, courteous and professional staff. Their equipments are newer and better. When they said you get a 1hr free whatever with a personal trainer, they did honor their word and I got to work with someone who was very helpful.
My free personal trainer whatever at La Fitness was a scam. Lady asked me a few questions and said, these are your options. Options being different types of rates for signing up for personal trainer. When i said i'm not interested in signing up for this now, she just said you know where my office is at.

After researching La fitness cancellation, It's clearly obvious this is the worst. When I ask the girl what happens if i don't pay the due balance, she tells me we'll keep calling you and everyone for all the memberships will keep calling you till you make that payment. The stupid thing is that like the person who told her what to say when she said hold on, she wasn't smart enough to realize that I can change my phone number or block their stupid calls.
I need a gym membership now so i can incorporate exercise into my whole studying routine. I can definately suck up to running outside in may and then that's it.
I'm really glad that membership is cancelled and I hope no one in their right mind signs up with LA Fitness.

Just destroyed TBR ochem chapter 6

Carbs aren't my thing. Was always scared of them. I think reading kaplan over this helped cement the content. Either way, I just finished phase 1 with 1 error which i corrected myself when i reread the question again.

That said, I've been back to studying. Not as much as i'd like. I've even taken time of work but i tend to watch tv or sleep or do something else. I end up spending about 6hrs or less studying and there're some days i don't study at all.

That said, I'm doing most of the phase 1 and for the one's i've not done, i plan on completing them. I've completed bio and ochem in kaplan although lack of review a day or a week afterwards makes me feel like i was better off not reading in the first place as i've forgotten and find myself rereading. I do know that the best way i studied back in high school was to read material taught that day that night and skim through the next day. End of the week i go over the entire week. I'm starting to think i should do that. Also, I've completed the fundermental of reading in mrl and done the pretest for the introductory course but i've yet to sit down and do passage sets. I've only done 1 or 2 so far i think. 2 half sets in powerscore and 1 section test.

In terms of practice, i've done at least one subject test for each subject. since i'm pretty much done with content phase 1. I just need to go through phase 2 with 60% practice and 50% content. And verbal. Haven't signed up for a date yet but here's to making it.

Border's going out of business

Read the email from their CEO today and i find it sad. From what i saw, the company did fight hard to stay in business. Even after the bankruptcy thing they sorta "redesigned" themselves to not just stay afloat but also, to keep up with the modern reading era of ebooks and more online retail. it redesigned it's rewards program and what not. I know Border's has some loyal customers who stayed with the company through it all.

I have to say it's a cutthroat world of business now. It's not just a matter of being able to keep up with the latest trend. it's also about being able to launch, keep up, and invent and reinvent latest trends or else you fall behind. I have to say this depends on advertising and marketing. There were ebook readers before amazon launched the kindle but most people own the kindle now or a nook. I own a kindle myself. Amazon's kindle was expensive at the beginning and i considered it a luxury product for me but once it hit the $189 and $139 range, i was sold. The bad economy hasn't helped. Consumers want to pay less for products. Retailers are left to either cut costs at the expense of profit or make up those lost profits some other way. Heck, nokia was a premier cell phone company and now we're in a world of apple or android. Palms and blackberries are also becoming history. 5 years ago if you'd told me google would be a giant in this phone business, i'd have thought 'ha'. Barnes and noble has managed to keep up with amazon and i think their ebook reader is doing well. In fact they have a $139 black and white version now. They've also moved to more online retail but they still have the stores. I wonder if the starbucks inside these stores contribute to them holding up. I know i wouldn't walk into a stand alone starbucks but with Barnes and noble having that are where one can study, i find myself buying stuff when i sit there. I don't like the Starbucks drink. Even their hot cocoa doesn't taste good. Lately, I've resorted to their cookies and other cheesecake factory deserts.

Point blank, more businesses are going to fail. Sad, but true. Giants who weren't are rising. Only thing i wonder is will we have bigger giants rise up in the future and take down these seemingly unbeatable giants?
Nothing is permanent. My heart goes out Borders - management, staff and all. I feel for those who've lost their jobs in the brick and mortar stores. I'll always remember sitting at their Avenue of the Arts store and reading books. I'll remember the coupons i used. I ordered the nclex 3500 from them. Oh the memories...

Another roommate situation

So i moved in with someone i knew. Bad idea. Knew that but i thought, oh, let me help a fellow sister out. in fact i'd found a similar deal of a house for less money. Not sure why i got stupid and chose to move in here instead. Anyway, prior to moving in, this person had said, you can use the closet in other room. I'd looked at another place where i'd have my own room, bath and that other person had also said you can use the closet in this room because i just have a desk in here and i don't use it. After adding everything up, i realized i'd pay more living with a fellow african but i thought let me help out. How stupid of me!
A week after moving in, this housemate tells me a friend is moving into the room next to mine, blah, blah, blah. Point blank, i need to move my clothes from that closet. i had my tall shoe rack in there. As a matter of fact, i have some clothes in that big tub i bought from walmart and i've 3 boxes of shoes sitting in my room. anyway, housemate goes on to say "how may rooms are you renting" blah, blah, blah. i remember after i moved in, she remarked, i should've charged you $900 considering all the space available to you. What space??? i barely have any space in the kitchen to put my stuff. Oh, and this room is smaller than what i moved from and i paid less rent. My utilites never hit $100 so techinically, i never even paid $700 for rent. I'm pay way more here and i've one little room.
the whole new person moving in was annoying. Now, there's another visitor here and this person is intruding in my space it's driving me CRAZY. she just takes my stuff and i barely talk to her. she doesn't say hello so i'm not sure why she just gets up and takes my stuff.
So i'm paying more rent than i've ever paid and the irony is that living here is worse than livin in a co-op. It's really annoying. I signed a 6-month lease. wish i'd signed a 3month one cuz i'd have moved out the end of this month and paid for next month without staying. Anyway, I really wanted to give this a try but i've to the conclusion; living with africans, bad, bad, BAD idea. It's just not me. Caucasians are more respectful of your space. I respect people spaces a lot and i hate it when someone intrudes into my space. I was supposed to have that drawer and i hate that i came home tonight looking to have my soda and it was gone. She took one yesterday as well.
This is ridiculous. I can't wait to submit stuff in october and get out of here.