Response and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Response and Analysis - Essay Example In addition, Margi gets involvement with older girls, who tells her to skip classes, â€Å"If I wanted to be friends with 14-year-olds, I had to do it† (Satrapi, 111) Margi gets into smoking but secretly whenever she and her mother engage in a conflict. An indication to that is, â€Å"With this first cigarette, I kissed my childhood goodbye. Now I was a grownup† (Satrapi, 117). However, Margi’s parents regard her as a young adult by the fact that they agree to send her to a boarding school as an indication of their sense of Margi as a young adult. Her mother informs her that, there is no need to cry, as she is a big girl, â€Å"No tears. You’re a big girl† (Satrapi, 152). What is the impact of the revolution both positive and negative? Women in Iran have the obligation to follow tradition and rules at disposal for them. This substantially includes the dressing code that is to be into practice by all girls and women in general. For example, wearing of yoga pants is not in permission under any circumstance as it brings about distraction to young men. Women can regain their rights if only they agree to face those rules by rebelling with all energy at their disposal. Educating individuals on the importance of women to wear, as they like would be essential in correcting evil thoughts from the public. However, wearing miniskirts for girls or women was not in accordance with the laws "Look at her! Last year she was wearing a miniskirt, showing off her beefy thighs to the whole neighborhood. Now madame is wearing a chador. It suits her better, I guess" (Satrapi 75). During 1980 a rule of wearing a veil at all time so as to avoid distracting boys and look descent. "Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school." (Satrapi 3) .it is through educating men that can enable women to regain their rights as wearing is a choice that each woman should enjoy. What is the role of women as seen in the

Future Goals and Reasons for Choosing the DNP Program Essay

Future Goals and Reasons for Choosing the DNP Program - Essay Example I would like to contribute in improvement of this situation. I also believe that the doctorate will put me at an advantage economically, more so because it will increase the enumeration which I will receive. I also believe that there will be high chances of obtaining scholarships in this program to enable me become a professor in the field. The program is relatively new and has room for accommodating individuals like myself in its line. Leadership in my view is an essential part of any nursing career path. I intend on continuing to develop my leadership skills through ongoing educational pursue and via taking greater positions of responsibility. My current position as a Captain with the United States Army reserves has allowed me to put leadership knowledge into practice. I also feel that the DNP program will further enhance these skills. I see myself as someone with wide and diverse knowledge in advanced practice with the ability to link classroom studies with clinical challenges. I also envision myself with the ability to integrate all the knowledge I will have obtained up to that level into my area of expertise in the health industry. I also believe that I will be able to research into various quarters that have been the cause of discrepancies in the health industry. Besides this, I will be able to cooperate with other fields of the profession to achieve effectiveness as a practioner. Some of the fields that I picture myself working with include administration and education. As I have taken on more responsibilities, I have become more cognizant of some of the problems with our health care system, and I plan to become more active toward creating and influencing a positive change. For example, I plan to advocate and to fight hard to force policy makers to take decisive steps to move today's bureaucracy driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of consumer choice and real market competition. I also envision myself as a competent manager of health care. This implies that I will have the ability to merge all the legal, ethical and professional requirements and standards during service provision. I believe that I will be able to provide adequate healthcare for all patients that I will deal with. This will be regardless of their background as I am ready to work and have worked with diverse population groupings during my practice. My position as a correctional nurse and a captain with the 6250th medical hospital, has given me the opportunity to work with a variety of patients from many cultures and backgrounds. I feel that this experience has enriched me and has allowed me to provide culturally sensitive care to the patients that I am entrusted to serve. Lastly, I envision my role as one who will be able to deliver changes in the field of healthcare delivery. I intend on doing this by affecting health policies in the industry and changing the attitude of service delivery. Professional experiences that contributed to nursing I will complete my bachelor's degree in nursing from Washington State University in May 2008. I also have a master degree from Chapman University in Clinical Psychology. Before I became a

Ancient Chinese Contributions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Ancient Chinese Contributions - Essay Example Gunpowder is considered as the most important invention of the ancient Chinese, according to the legend, the invention of gunpowder was an accident (McClellan, 2011, p.125). Those who were responsible for inventing gunpowder were actually trying to locate a method through which human beings could remain immortal and by accident, they produced gunpowder which has the ability to take human life easier. Gunpowder is an essential contribution of the ancient Chinese because it has helped human beings in defending themselves against loss of life and loss of property for several years. Gunpowder has been used by militia and defense forces of the western world to protect themselves at the time of war and to protect loss of property and life against enemy attacks. The use of gunpowder in the field of warfare started taking place during the 14th century. Ancienct Chinese have even gained heavy recognition for the creation of compass. If the compass would not have been invented then individuals would have suffered great difficulty in moving from one end to another. They would have faced difficulty in finding their local destinations and destinations they intended to reach. Chinese should be thanked for their invention of compass because without this invention people would not have been able to fly aircrafts and condcut adventorours activities such as hiking. The early compass devloped by the ancient Chinese was created to help the chinese population in finding the location to the southern regions as these regions were considered as significant areas for them (McClellan, 2011, p.126). The compasses that were manufactured during the 4th century were created with the useof lodestone. Today education is considered as one of the most essential parts of humanwellbeing and if it would not have been the contribution of paper made by the anci ent Chinese, human beings would have remained uneducated for a very long period of time. If paper would not have been created by the great ancient chinese, record keeping would have never existed as there is no humanbeing who can hold huge amount of data in their memories for a long period of time. Paper has assisted in managing reocrds and has helped humanbeings in managing important information. The modern day paper used by the entire world is an achievment that was created by Cai Lun, he was the inventor of paper and during A.D 105, he invented paper by mixing fibers obtained from wood and water (Ho, 2000, p.216). The fourth greatest invention made by the ancient chinese was the Chinese abacus which is a simple tool for conducting calculations that are mathematical in nature. The four main mathematical functions that are performed with the assistance of abacus includes: multiplication, divison, addition and subtraction. The abacus was an invention of Chentg Dawei and this inventi on was created during the era in which the Ming Dynasty was in power (Ho, 2000, p.85). Abacus proved to be very

Literary Criticism Essay Example for Free

Literary Criticism Essay Biographical criticism begins with the simple but central insight that literature is written by actual people and that understanding an author’s life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend the work. Anyone who reads the biography of a writer quickly sees how much an author’s experience shapes—both directly and indirectly—what he or she creates. Reading that biography will also change (and usually deepen) our response to the work. Sometimes even knowing a single important fact illuminates our reading of a poem or story. Learning, for example, that Josephine Miles was confined to a wheelchair or that Weldon Kees committed suicide at forty-one will certainly make us pay attention to certain aspects of their poems we might otherwise have missed or considered unimportant. A formalist critic might complain that we would also have noticed those things through careful textual analysis, but biographical information provided the practical assistance of underscoring subtle but important meanings in the poems. Though many literary theorists have assailed biographical criticism on philosophical grounds, the biographical approach to literature has never disappeared because of its obvious practical advantage in illuminating literary texts. It may be helpful here to make a distinction between biography and biographical criticism. Biography is, strictly speaking, a branch of history; it provides a written account of a person’s life. To establish and interpret the facts of a poet’s life, for instance, a biographer would use all the available information—not just personal documents like letters and diaries, but also the poems for the possible light they might shed on the subject’s life. A biographical critic, however, is not concerned with recreating the record of an author’s life. Biographical criticism focuses on explicating the literary work by using the insight provided by knowledge of the author’s life. Quite often biographical critics, like Brett C. Millier in her discussion of Elizabeth Bishop’s â€Å"One Art,† will examine the drafts of a poem or story to see both how the work came into being and how it might have been changed from its autobiographical origins. A reader, however, must use biographical interpretations cautiously. Writers are notorious for revising the facts of their own lives; they often delete embarrassments and invent accomplishments while changing the details of real episodes to improve their literary impact. John Cheever, for example, frequently told reporters about his sunny, privileged youth; after the author’s death, his biographer Scott Donaldson discovered a childhood scarred by a distant mother, a failed, alcoholic father, and nagging economic uncertainty. Likewise, Cheever’s outwardly successful adulthood was plagued by alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, and family tension. The chilling facts of Cheever’s life significantly changed the way critics read his stories. The danger in a famous writer s case—Sylvia Plath and F. Scott Fitzgerald are two modern examples—is that the life story can overwhelm and eventually distort the work. A savvy biographical critic always remembers to base an interpretation on what is in the text itself; biographical data should amplify the meaning of the text, not drown it out with irrelevant material.

The reasons that caused Lehman Brothers to collapse

The reasons that caused Lehman Brothers to collapse The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was a result of the investment banks exposure to the 2007-2010 financial crisis. In fact, the demise of the investment bank would come to symbolize the crisis. Therefore, in order to understand the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, a consummate understanding of the 2007-2010 financial crisis is requisite. As such, an examination of crisis will serve as introductory. Several factors contributed to the fall of Lehman Brothers. Perhaps most important, however, was the period of deregulation that preceded the crisis. Arguably, the period of deregulation started during the Reagan Era. Reaganomics, the lassiez faireeconomic policies advocated by the former president, may have served as the starting point for the deregulatory climate that ensued for the following two decades. Either way, the following two decades witnessed an overriding belief in the virtues of deregulation. In 1999, President Clinton signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act into law. The act repealed portions of the Glass-Steagall Act (Banking Act of 1933). The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited universal banking. Universal banking is defined as a single institution acting as an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company(Investopedia). The repeal of Glass-Steagall allowed for harmful activity on the part of several financial intermediaries, including Lehman Brothers. For example, commercial banks played a crucial role as buyers and sellers of mortgage-backed securities, credit-default swaps and other explosive financial derivatives. Without the watering down and ultimate repeal of Glass-Steagall, the banks would have been barred from most of these activities (Demos 3). Several other factors contributed to the financial crisis, including:subprime lending, credit conditions, financial instruments, and an increase in home prices. Many subprime mortgages were predatory in nature. Often, the borrower had little chance of repayment. As mortgages were often bundled and sold, lenders were less concerned with a borrowers ability to repay the mortgage. In addition, over 80% of subprime mortgages were adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs)(Lee).A combination of declining home prices and higher reset rates for ARMs caused delinquencies to increase dramatically. Subprime lending was fueled by low interest rates. After September 11, 2001, the Fed lowered rates. In periods of low interest rates, lending becomes more profitable. As such, banks were pressured to increase subprime lending. By 2006, subprime loans accounted for 20 percent of all mortgage loans (Kratz). The use of financial innovation to create complex financial instruments (derivatives) played a significant role in both subprime lending and the financial crisis. For example, banks sold mortgages, through the securitization process, to investors, in order to finance subprime lending. Asset-backed securities (ABSs) were a common securitization arrangement. A portfolio of income-producing assets (loans) is sold by the originating banks to a special purpose vehicle and the cash flows from the assets are then allocated to tranches (Hull 190). The securitized loan is then sold to investors as an ABS. The process is depicted below. ABS CDS In addition, another derivative, a credit default swap (CDS), was designed to provide insurance to protect against default. CDSs allowed investors to synthetically bet against the asset-backed securities. The process is akin to multiple people buying insurance on the same house (Demos). As such, when mortgages began to default, causing the value of ABSs to decline, the losses to insurance agencies were magnified. The combination of all three of the aforementioned factors caused a remarkable increase in home prices. Low interest rates encouraged borrowing. In addition, many subprime borrowers believed home prices would continue to appreciate in perpetuity. As such, subprime borrowers acquired ARMs. ARMs were a product of the financial innovation mentioned earlier. Between 1997 and 2006, the amalgamation of these factors resulted in a 124 percent increase in home prices (SP/Case-Shiller). Market Making In order to better understand the collapse of Lehman Brothers, it is necessary to examine the functions and practices of an investment bank. The sales and trading desks at investment banks had primarily acted as market makers. Market makers are a broker-dealer firms that  accept the risk of holding a  certain number of shares of a particular security in order to facilitate trading in that security (Investopedia). In other words, market makers provide liquidity to markets by quoting both bid and offer prices. In contrast,investment banks eventually began proprietary trading. Proprietary trading involves taking positions in assets, as opposed to profiting from the bid-offer spread (market making). Lehman Brothers, through proprietary trading, had large levered positions in both subprime mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. When the value of these assets began to decline, the firms equity was wiped out and the bank became insolvent. Proprietary Trading Collapse On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. This was the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. The bank declared a debt of $613 billion, bond debt of $155 billion and $639 billion worth of assets. The demise of Lehman Brothers was caused by a combination of the rejection of bailout from the government, lack of a willing buyer, and the mortgage crisis. The reasons behind the government rejection of a Lehman Brothers bailout are hotly contested. Prior to Lehmans bankruptcy, the government had saved both American Insurance Group (AIG) and Bear Sterns from a similar fate. According to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the government failed to bailout Lehman Brothers for two reasons. First, the government lacked legal authority to intervene. Second, Lehman had insufficient capital. The Federal Reserve could only make a loan, Bernanke explained, if collateral supported ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Giving Lehman a loan then would be lending into a run, Bernanke feltà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The assessment was that if there was a run, which there would be . . . all we would have accomplished would be to make counterparties whole and not succeed in preventing the collapse of the company (dailyfinance.com).Many theorize that the government didnt save Lehman Brothers in order to teach market participants a lesson. However , Bernanke refutes, I speak for myself, and I think I can speak for others, that at no time did we say, We could save Lehman, but we wont. Our concern was about the financial system, and we knew the implications for the greater financial system would be catastrophic, and it was (dailyfinance.com). Lehman Brothershad potential buyers in bothBank of America and Barclays Capital. However, without government assistance,both Bank of America and Barclays Capital walked. Lehman was forced into liquidation. September 16, 2008, the day following Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy, Barclays signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain parts of Lehman as well as their New York headquarters building. The deal was revised days later for Barclays to acquire the core business of Lehman Brothers including their $960 million Midtown Manhattan office skyscraper and 10,000 employees for $1.35 billion. With few other options, Lehman had little choice but to acquiesce. On September 22, 2008, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired Lehman Brothers franchise in the Asia Pacific region including multiple locations and 3,000 employees. The mortgage crisis played a significant role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Lehman was a major player in subprime lending. Lehman was a leader in both mortgage lending and loans securitization of mortgages. Subprime lending and securitization represented an increasing large portion of Lehmans revenues. As such, the firm was irrevocably linked to the mortgage market. When mortgage default rates began to rise, demand for MBSs decreased. Lehman was stuck with billions of dollars of toxic assets on its balance sheet. Lehman would eventually close its mortgage lending operations. The following year, due to holding on to large positions in subprime and other lower-rated mortgage tranches, Lehman faced significant losses. By 2007, Lehmans leverage ratio (measurement of risk) also increased tremendously to 31:1 putting them in a very vulnerable position because they were too thinly capitalized for the leverage used. This was allowed because they were not subject to the same regulations as depository banks. Deregulation allowed for Lehman to take those increasingly risky positions. Market Effects Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing on September 15, 2008 caused the DJIA to drop over 500 points (-4.4%). September 15, 2008 marked the biggest one day drop since the markets reopened following September 11, 2001. The DJIA would eventually lose an additional 43% of its value, erasing more than US$ 1 T in market capitalization. World stock market indices suffered a similar fate. The FTSE All-World Index would eventually lose 2400 points (44% of its value). The prospect of Lehman liquidating $4.3 billion in mortgage securities sparked a selloff in the commercial mortgage-backed security (MBS) market. Several money and institutional funds had significant exposure to Lehman. BNY Mellons institutional cash fund and the primary reserve fund (an MMMF) both fell below $1 per share due to exposure to Lehman. The Net Asset Value (NAV) of MMMFs normally stays constant at $1 because investment products usually do not produce capital gains or losses (Investopedia). This event was referred to as the breaking of the buck. Overall systematic risk increased drastically as a result of the bankruptcy filing. Due to the increase in systemic risk, there was a US$ 737 B decline in collateral outstanding in the securities lending market. In addition, the TED Spread, the spread between U.S. treasury rates and LIBOR rates, increased almost 400 basis points. Essentially, the dramatic increase in the TED spread was due to overwhelming uncertainty. LIBOR rates incorporate a small amount of credit risk; U.S. Treasury rates are seen as virtually risk-free. The uncertainty caused the rate differential between a small amount of credit risk and risk-free to widen. After the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing, in order to address the escalating crisis, the government created the Troubles Assets Relief Program (TARP). TARP was designed to purchase both assets and equity from financial intermediaries (FIs). The purpose of its design was threefold. First, by purchasing assets, the government hoped to remove toxic assets from the banks balance sheets. Second, by increasing equity positions, TARP recapitalized the troubled banks. Third, TARP was also implemented to encourage inter-bank lending. Opinion The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was preventable. The preventability of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy is primarily due to three factors. First, corporate culture is dictated by upper-level management (this is especially true in top-down hierarchical organizations). At Lehman Brothers, CEO Richard Fuld created a culture of risk taking. A corporate culture that reflected conservatism could have prevented the banks demise. Second, as a corollary, tougher risk management policies could have prevented risk taking behavior. For example, by historical measures, Lehman had a tremendous used a tremendous amount of leverage. As mentioned, a 3 percent decline in asset prices would wipe out the firms equity. A leverage cap could have been used to prevent the overuse of leverage. Third, the weak economic climate was disastrous for Lehman. Lehman had large positions in the mortgage market. When the market began to decline, those positions went against the investment bank. To prevent the three factors, the firm should have hired a CEO that advocated a less risky business strategy. In addition, reduce employees compensation based on profit generation. The firm could have also employed a more market neutral trading strategy. In doing so, Lehman would have avoided insolvency. As mentioned, several ways exist to prevent the failure of the investment bank. However,all the above approaches Lehman CEO Richard Fuld are tailored to Lehman Brothers unique situation. They may or may not, however, be industry-wide or socially beneficial.To prevent another financial crisis and, therefore, the failure of financial institutions, we must align the self-interests of those institutions with societal interests. The following are recommendations for aligning the above interests: à ¢- Long-term Incentive Structure à ¢- Fiduciary Responsibility à ¢- Promote Financial Education à ¢- Prevent the Manipulation of Social Interests We need to develop a long-term incentive structure to prevent executives trying to capture profit upfront at expense of the company and/or societys long-term interests. We could design a longer-term incentive structure that employees will be compensated for their performance over longer periods of times other than the currently yearly compensation. Also we could design compensation program make the compensations based on certain activities callable in the future, if the loss of the company is deemed directly related to the those activities that the compensations are based on. Fiduciary responsibility should be mandatory and financial institutions should be held legally accountable. We need to require full disclosure of conflict of interest, not only in the event that two parties have a direct interest conflict, but also full disclosure when companies providing a financial service have different opinions than the clients current position. In addition, we should expand the concept of full disclosure. We propose making academic researchers disclose the benefit they are getting from financial institutions, including board positions and monetary compensation. Promote education of the general public. Specifically, implement finance classes in public high schools, ensuring all students are aware of market basics. In addition, make firms provide optional education on specific products to clients. Lastly, we must reduce or eliminate attempts to make social interests subservient to self-interests. This concept could apply to all industries. We could limit the funding of lobbyists a firm could hire, and highly restrict the political donations from large firms.We must also eliminate the links between government regulators and market participants, eliminating the conflict of interest between corporations and society. In general, the aforementioned actions are attempts to align self-interest with the social interest. Self-interest, the invisible hand in the successful free market system, must be made to serve the interest of the society. Conclusion This report has examined the following: the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the bankruptcys causes, the culpable parties, market effects of the bankruptcy, and risk management errors relating to the bankruptcy. In addition, the opinion section of the paper answers the question, Was the bankruptcy preventable? In summary, on September 15, 2008, the Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Several causes forced Lehman into bankruptcy. Of primary importance, however, was the investment banks exposure to the subprime mortgage market. Deregulation and risk management errors allowed Lehman to increase that exposure. Lehmans CEO Richard Fuld, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are each culpable. Mr. Fuld is responsible because he created a culture of risk taking and pay based on short-term performance. Henry Paulson and Mr. Bernanke could have saved the bank and chose to do otherwise. We believe this event was entirely preventable. As mentioned, the banks exposure to the subprime mortgage market was, ultimately, its downfall. If more stringent risk management policies had been in place and Lehmans corporate culture had been more conservative, the banks exposure to the crisis would have been reduced. Reduced exposure would have undoubtedly increased Lehmans chances for survival. A singular theme continuously appeared while we conducted our research and, consequently, appeared throughout this report. That theme is greed. Greed is defined as excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions. Unquestionably, human greed contributed to the 2007-2010 financial crisis. Both financial intermediaries and individuals erred. For example, AIG reported record profits in 2007. Unfortunately, the insurer earned those profits by taking on enormous amounts of Off-Balance-Sheet risk. These OBS liabilities (contingent liabilities) resulted in an $85 B government bailout of the firm. Individuals speculated on home prices by refinancing mortgages. Often times, these loans were secured by home equity. When home prices declined, the mortgages went underwater.Mortgage defaults soared. In both cases, greed blinded the market participants. Lehman Brothers wasnt impervious to the rapacious desire either. Leverage is the use of either borrowed money and/or derivatives to multiply gains and losses. The multiplication of gains and losses (greater volatility) implies an increase in risk. Recklessly increasing risk demonstrates an excessive desire for wealth.Therefore, leverage metrics (ratios) can be used tomeasure greed. Prior to the crisis, Lehmans leverage ratios soared. Viewing a single financial product, event, action, or asset bubble as the sole cause of the crisis is overly simplistic. Greed served as a catalyst for each. By ignoring this fact, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes.

Interview with a Barber Shop Owner Essays -- Business Management Inter

Have you ever wonder what it is like to be the owner of a barbershop? Well Raymond Jackson, owner and operator of Your Barbershop, is the one you should learn from. Not only do you get to work for yourself in this recession-resistant growth industry, you get to revive an American tradition while serving upscale clientele with your staff of professionally-trained employees, all with the support of the latest technology, proven operating philosophy, and an experienced management team at your disposal. In a two-hour interview, Mr. Jackson was asked a series of questions pertaining to his work atmosphere, personal goals, and personal thoughts about his establishment. This report will illustrate the necessities of running an established business. When asked, â€Å"What, in your own opinion, would make another successful in this position?† he said, â€Å"You need a lot of people skills.† He believes in order to run a barbershop; you need to be able to meet the needs of the customer. If the customer is not satisfied, you will lose their business. You must be patient. If not, the customer will not return for more service. It’s all about keeping the customer satisfied. This led him to the topic of supply and demand. Most of his profit is dependent on what the customer wants. For example, if the customers come in and want to purchase a bottle of water, you have to provide the water at their convenience. This will keep the customer satisfied and ensure their return for more business. Sometimes business gets slow. He feels the need to bring in more customers. To achieve this goal, he offers various incentives such as discounts. The discounts allow more people to come in and e... ... in its current state, and consumers directing more of their resources on fuel costs, have your business felt a slowdown? a. No, due to the fact that customers still tend to keep up their appearance 13. As a small business owner, how do you plan your budget for your business? a. By paying attention to the supply and demand of the customer i. He buys what is needed 14. What does your company do to retain existing customers? a. Consistency i. Keeping up with what the customers want 15. What is your number one source of new business and how do you get it? a. Siblings/families/friends i. Referrals ii. Growth of family 16. What is competition’s biggest advantage over you and how do you intend on fixing this problem? a. Advantage i. Technology 1. Computers 2. Accessories b. Intentions i. Add these things and more in the near future

mornings :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I slam my alarm clock to shut it off. I try to open my eyes to see what time it is, but it feels as though the sleep fairy came along while I was sleeping and super glues my eyes shut. I knew I had to get up to go to the gym, so I rolled over, stood up and flicked the light on. At that moment it felt like I was staring directly into the sun, every time I tried to open my eyes they would close immediately. I am still not awake yet but I know if I want to go to the gym before work I have to push myself to wake up. Stumbling all over my room, I try to throw on my gym clothes in record-breaking time. Finally I am ready to go. I try to remember not to forget anything as I mumble to myself, â€Å"I grabbed my clothes for work, my gym bag, my wallet, my keys, and my cell phone.† I slam the door and fly out the house getting everything in about ten minutes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Outside it is so cold, my body starts to shiver on the way to the car sitting about twenty feet from my front door. Getting into my car is the worst part of my morning routine. I dig my hand deep into my pocket to pull my keys out that seem to be all tangled up in the inner lining, which makes my time out in the freezing cold longer. Hopping into my car and shutting the door figuring I will be much more comfortable, which wasn’t true because the inside of my car also felt like a freezer. All I can think about at the moment is turning on the car and wishing it would warm up faster than it had the day before. Everyday during the winter I have to wait longer for the car to warm up for the fact that there is so much ice on my windshield, I know I cant just start driving because I cant see a thing.