Baby Snatchers

     Today was just like any typical day for me. I got in my car, drove to work, and unlocked the door to the bakery. As soon as I walked in I saw Dan the Decorator and he greeted me as he usually does. I was pretty disappointed when I heard the radio playing BBC World News because I wanted to listen to music. Since Dan was at work first I didn’t say anything. I was concentrating pretty hard on making and sculpting the perfect sized French bread for a while but then I heard a piece about baby snatching and it caught my attention. I can only imagine a couple’s complete devastation when they find out that they can’t make a human life together, couldn’t feel their growing baby kicking inside of them as they pick out names for him or her. For some adoption can take years and it is especially hard to adopt a new born baby. Some people want a new born baby so badly that they will do anything to get one. As the woman was talking about the upraise in baby thievery, she described a story about a man named Salvador, who believes that he had his baby stolen from him. He saw his beautiful baby girl as she was born. He said that a doctor came to him after her birth. His wife passed away after the birth and his child was still born.  He made the funeral arrangements and the baby and his wife were buried in closed coffin funeral. He had thought about this for years and regretted not making them show him his still born baby, now thinking that it was pretty suspicious that they didn’t show him the baby. After contacting a lawyer and police about his inquiry and doing much extensive research, authorities unburied his child, finding after testing the deceased child’s DNA, that the child in the coffin was a male,  when his baby was female, and the baby in the coffin was not a new born baby. Another instance where baby snatching was discovered is in Spain. Antonio Barroso said that he never really felt like he belonged to his family. Finally when he was 38 years old he discovered that his parents had purchased him as a baby. A friend of the family was dying, and on his deathbed he told Mr. Barroso that his parents, along with him and his wife, had purchased him and his son from a nun for “more than the price of a flat,” because their wives were unable to conceive and they desperately wanted to be parents. Antonio Barroso felt so confused, as if his whole life was a lie. I can only imagine how it would feel to find out that your parents whom you love so much, had purchased you under the table from a nun. It would make you question your parents’ moral and good will. I don’t think that I would be able to get over something like that. Apparently the babies were being stolen by doctors and sold to desperate people. It is weird to think about how wrong it is for them to steal the babies of proud new parents, and at the same time it is sad that they were unable to have children of their own and longed to be parents so badly that they had to buy their baby under the table like that.

Spring Breaking the News

Where are you going for your spring break? Many of you are probably going to party, many of you are probably just going to stay home and work, and some of you are going to catch up on some much needed house work, and a select few are possibly considering going to a beach. Many people have been hearing about the dangers going on at the Mexican border regarding such issues as drug trafficking and violence. But how dangerous could South Padre Island actually be? After all, it is still part of the United States. The dangerous activities have caused South Padre Island to be the sixth most dangerous destination for college and high school students to have spring break. I decided to further research the matter, but I have been having trouble finding much of anything out of the ordinary in the South Padre news. I have had no trouble finding a ton of articles that talk about the parties going on in South Padre Island. Some of the articles talked about 40,000 people have come from Chicago, to Kansas City for South Padre’s sandy beaches and warm weather to get away from the cold, snowy weather. One couple that was interviewed said that this will be their twentieth year coming to South Padre for spring break.  South Padre Island’s police officers have also asked for help from many surrounding places as far as Galveston to tighten the patrol and crack down on drug use. Executive director of the South Padre Island Visitor and Convention Bureau, Dan Quandt says, they're not comparing apples to oranges. They're using stats that compare crime to our resident population, not our daily population, and South Padre is the most tourist-oriented town in Texas.” Are we in the day and age where trying to find a safe, fun, alcohol lush destination to sit back and relax has become obsolete.  In all fairness to South Padre and all the other spring break destinations on the most dangerous list, when you have so many teenagers in one spot, with an abundance amount of alcohol, there is going to be a few bad apples who can’t control themselves. Some of the local reports indicated that in past spring breaks, there were about 30 overnight arrests during the busy spring breaks season. This is peanuts compared to the 40,000 who are visiting during this time period. Regarding the drug cartels and the gang related violence along the Texas and Mexican border, experts and people in the know are expressing that as long as you stay on the island and don’t go to the Mexican border towns there should not be any abnormal dangers. As long as the vacationer is smart and follow good instincts, there should be no problem with this particular vacation destination. I have weighed the pros and cons and have decided that because there are not any significant and immediate dangers, I feel that going to South Padre this spring break will be fun and exciting.  

Taking a Bite Out of Life

     When I was a child, I had very crooked teeth. I also had a large gap between my two front teeth and the two teeth on either side of them (eye teeth) were small and pointed. The dentist called them peg laterals. I was so embarrassed to even smile. Many times I would cover my mouth when I smiled or laughed. At school I was made fun of for the way my teeth looked. I was called squirrel, buck tooth, mouse, vampire, and many other cruel names because of the way my teeth looked. When I entered junior high I got braces, and even though I was called metal mouth after that, I didn’t care because I was so happy that my teeth would finally be straight! I had to wear those braces until my senior year when I finally got them taken off. It was so weird not to have anything metal in my mouth. I kept running my tongue across my teeth amazed at how smooth my teeth felt. They were perfectly straight and I couldn’t stop looking at them. I loved the way they looked but my orthodontist told me that I needed to get veneers over my peg laterals if I want to look pretty. Veneers are thin porcelain shells that are bonded to teeth that may be unsightly for various reasons. They can last anywhere from five years to twenty years depending upon how well you take care of them. However, before they can bond the veneers to your teeth they have to shave off a good portion of your teeth. The orthodontist told my dad that it would be one thousand dollars per tooth and we didn’t have that kind of money. I didn’t care though; I thought they were totally beautiful without veneers.
Recently I decided to go to the dentist to get a cleaning. Because I recently filed my taxes, I realized that I had some extra money to spend. I asked them about veneers and the different options I had. They cleaned and examined my teeth, telling me that I had very little wrong with my smile and even though my eye teeth were small and pointy, I looked normal. The dentist also said reminded me that if I changed my mind after I got the veneers, there was no way to change my teeth back to the way that they were. After thinking long and hard about my options I set up an appointment to get veneers. Finally on last Tuesday I went to my first appointment to get veneers. I sat down in the dentist chair, shaking vigorously from nervousness. The dental hygienist came in to prepare me for the doctor. She put one of those crazy blue bibs on me and told me to lie back while she got the dentist. He came in and greeted me and told me that he was going to numb my mouth on both sides above my laterals. I said “Oh how are you going to do that?” he replied “You don’t want to know!” He was right because he then poked a needle above each one of my teeth into my gums and we waited for it to numb. My mouth began to tingle and a few minutes late my mouth was so numb I couldn’t even feel my nose! The dentist then gave me a pair of tented safety glasses and put a towel over my neck and chest and said “It’s about to get a whole lot wetter in here!” He then began to use a drill that produces water to shave away my teeth. I couldn’t feel a thing! After they were done shaving away part of my teeth they took impressions of my upper mouth so they could construct my teeth, which would take three weeks to create. After the impressions they quickly created some temporary teeth to put over my shaved teeth so I wouldn’t be walking around looking like Christopher Walken in the movie Sleepy Hollow. After the temporary teeth were glued onto my shaved teeth to cover them she handed me a mirror so I could admire them. She said that the temporary ones would give me an idea what my permanent ones would look like. I didn’t want to look in the mirror because I was so scared of what they might look like. My boyfriend came to pick me up and told me to smile but I refused. He convinced me to show him with his flattering words of persuasion. When I smiled he was amazed at how different I looked and he told me that I had to look at my teeth! I reluctantly looked in the mirror and discovered that I had a beautiful, full, smile that I had been waiting for over ten years for and these were only the temporary ones! I actually cried because I was so pleased! So far I suggest veneers for everyone who is considering them. I was so scared for no reason at all! I didn’t feel a thing, except some minor, tolerable discomfort when the medication began to wear off! I can’t wait to see what my permanent veneers look like!

Japan's Earthquake/Tsunami

I come rolling into work at about five thirty this morning, at the same time as the cake decorator who is usually there at about eight in the morning. Usually I’m there by myself until eight in the morning when the bakery opens. Before we can even put our coats on the coat rack, he says, “Have you been watching the news?” and I’m thinking, I haven’t even had time to comb my hair let alone watch the news, but I just said no I have not. He then informed me that an 8.9 earthquake utterly devastated Japan that afternoon already, which caused a 23 foot tsunami to wipe out Tokyo and other cities along that coast, reaching far inland. We then turned the radio to Fox News and they informed us that Hawaii, California, and some other coasts would be getting effects of the tsunami later in the morning and that Hawaii was expected to be getting up to six foot waves, and California perhaps three feet.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! All I could think about was how terrible this is and what kind of devastation these survivors must feel loosing family members, friends, and their homes like that. Their whole world got turned upside down in one day. Over 200 people were reported dead but the rescuers know that the death toll is climbing higher as deceased are being discovered in the wreckage. According to Fox News, “The official casualty toll was 236 dead, 725 missing and 1,028 injured, although police said 200-300 bodies were found along the coast in Sendai, the biggest city in the area. Authorities said they weren't able to reach the area because of damage to the roads.” Japan had to declare a state of emergency after they had discovered that five nuclear reactors had lost the ability to cool down, fearing that there may be a nuclear meltdown. They have set up about 33 shelters for families of survivors who have nowhere to go because their homes have been destroyed. About ten billion dollars worth of damages is reported right now and the number could become much higher. As soon as the earthquake began the school children knew to put on their protective earthquake gear and duck under their desks because Japan is in the ninetieth percentile of where earthquakes occur. In 2004 they also had another devastating earthquake, causing a tsunami from the Indian Ocean that killed about 230,000 people. Right now I am thankful to be living in the middle of the United States. I was talking about the earthquake to the Cintas uniform man who brings the bakery towels this morning and he said that he heard on the radio that over one-hundred small earthquakes have been reported in the United States this year but have not been released to the press because they were not of high enough magnitude. I think that is a pretty scary thought if that is true, but I’m not sure if it is. All I can say as that my heart goes out to the families in Japan, even though it doesn’t really help them at all. I wish that I could take back all of the pain and suffering that they have been through and will go through because of this terrible earthquake.

Branding- Without Cows..

“Branding- without cows- sorry beef lovers”

As times change, so must the way we approach marketing schemes in today’s competitive world of business. The article published by the Harvard Business Review, The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand, sets presidents regarding the fundamental of social media and how this ever-changing aspect can lead a company to a greater well-being. The article touches on many interesting new ideas regarding the new wave of interaction, motivation, and persuasion found in modern day customer –to – client networking. Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan, the authors, lay great magnitude in the basic “treat your customer right” fundamentals of networking.

            Knowing what the customer wants, how the customer wants it, and when and where the customer wants it is a task that market researchers have spent many hours trying to achieve. To a company, this kind of information is worth millions, sometimes billions of dollars. Getting the customer involved and making him or her feel as though they are part of a consumer family is a key factor in this accomplishment. The article sites such companies as American Express, Procter and Gamble, and Cisco as using customer involvement. These companies all set up message devoted websites in order to interact with their target audience base; this kind of interaction, according to the article, “Boost brand awareness, trial, and ultimately sales.” I have personally been involved with trying to accomplish exclusivity in order to build brand awareness. In a few of my previous jobs, I have been involved with helping to come up with new, technology driven idea using social sites such as twitter and face book.

            Building a brand is no simple task. Today’s cyber connected world makes it is easy to get your name out, but also makes it incredibly difficult to keep it pure. Also, Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan  have found, through research, that there are four basic qualities that build a company’s brand, “They offer and communicate a clear, relevant customer promise”, “They build trust by delivering on that promise”, “They drive the market by continually improving the promise”, and “They seek further advantage by innovation beyond the familiar” .

            The customer promise is such an important part of brand building and awareness. With a track record of corrupt or unfilled promises, a company may as well, in some cases, stop trying. Companies such as Virgin Atlantic Airways not only try their hardest to keep their customer promises, but they continually monitor social networking sites to make sure customers feel as though the airlines efforts are meaningful.

      Adventuring beyond the familiar can be scary at first, but usually pays off in the end. Virgin Atlantic Airlines offers their customers something more than just a flight, they offer them an experience. VAA has set up a website that gives their customers that ability to make personal scrapbooks and receive none promotional advice about certain trips and adventures. Even though they don’t make a lot of money upfront from some of their endeavors, benefits come from brand reinforcement.

Many advantages can come from the newly intertwined and connected world. Companies should use these tools to benefit their objectives but they must also remember that the tools they take advantage of can also destroy them. According to the article, in order for companies to truly take advantage of all things the newly founded network system has to offer, organizations must keep their eye on the ball, don’t throw out their playbooks, use social media primarily for insight, strive to go viral, but protect the band, and engage, but follow the social rules . Together, with the right tools and attitudes, the new way to market and brand will cannonbolt many companies that never had a chance into a bright future.

Further Discussion...

On February 23, 2011, I feel like I was unable to say enough about twins. I cannot express how much I love being a twin. Each day when I wake up I feel extremely special that I have someone to share a bond with unlike a bond that I have been able to share with anyone else. When I need someone to talk to she is always available to give me the advice I need; and although we do not share the same exact experiences she usually helps me work it out. When I was small I always thought that it was perplexing to be a twin. I never really had anything much that was my own, not even my birthday. People always stared when we went anywhere because it was uncommon to be a twin. Our mother always bought us the same exact outfits; so when I got old enough to pick out my own they never looked anything like hers. When we went to school, all the teachers and children would get us confused, but only after we told them that we were twins. I was constantly being called her name more often than my own it seemed. Lastly, everyone would always ask us the same question over and over again: “Can you girls hear each other’s thoughts and feel each other’s pain?” The reply was always the same to this question, “No.”
However, as we grow older every day, I am finding that never being without her was the best feeling in the world. This feeling most definitely overwhelms the perplexing feeling I had when I was small. If I have a problem I know that she will understand; she does not judge me like other people have in the past. Where I would be afraid to tell somebody else something embarrassing, I can always tell her. Usually, the same experience has happened to her; or something like it around the same timeframe. I have never had any trouble making friends, but I always seem to compare them to a higher standard each time I try to make one. It seems that since we live a few cities away from each other I am always looking for another girl to fill her shoes each time she is not here with me. I also find it difficult to be alone since she has been by my side ever since we have been in the womb. I tend to get lonely when no one is around more easily than others, but I know I can always call her and she will talk to me as long as I want. I feel like many people will never experience the bond that my twin sister and I share. Not even people with siblings a year apart. I feel so special to get to experience such a bond of sisterhood that is rare. Most importantly, not only do I get to experience this rare bond, but I was born with a best friend.