The Famous Golden Arches

So, as I'm studying for my international business test (tomorrow.. yes, I did procrastinate a bit), I came across a paragraph that said:

"When McDonald's decided to open its first restaurant in Moscow, it found that to serve food and drink indistinguishable from that served in McDonald's restaurants elsewhere, it had to vertically integrate backward to supply its own needs. The quality of Russian-grown potatoes and meat was too poor. Thus, to protect the quality of its product, McDonald's set up its own dairy farms, cattle ranches, vegetable plots, and food processing plants within Russia. (Hill, 2009)"

Okay, so two questions arise:

1) What quality?????

"To protect the quality of its product"!!! Just from a quick skim through Google search there is no direct answer as to what grade of meat McDonald's beef is, but I've read a couple of articles stating it is Grade D meat--
the lowest edible quality of meat. Grade D meat is ONE grade above the meat used in cat food. Another website that the USDA doesn't grade meat based on letters, but based on "Prime (top of the line), Utility, Cutter, and the lowest is Canned.(snopes.com)" One person on a Q&A website said, "My friend worked in a meat packing plant in Pennsylvania that packed for McDonalds, and in every twenty five pound box they packed they had to put fifteen pounds of fat, so fat and probably soy filler is in there along with enough beef so that the government will let them tell the public its all beef.(city-data.com)"

Either way, we know we aren't getting the "good stuff" (I know that because there is no straight answer for the meat quality in McDonald's burgers, and the company says "It's a secret ingredient/recipe" is enough to tell you not to eat the food), so does McDonald's really think they are fooling anyone?

2) How bad is the quality of potatoes and meat in Russia that McDonald's didn't even find it acceptable??????

Anyways, should get back to studying.


Reference:
Hill, C. W. (2009). National Differences in Political Economy. Global Business Today Sixth Edition (6th edition ed., pp. 79-80). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Last Blog.

Things I’ve learned this semester:

•If you have a business, never hire family members to work for you.
•Don’t give yourself a break after high school; just go straight to college so that you can get it over with.
•Writing is not as hard as we’ve been brainwashed to think it is. Punctuation is.
•Sitting on your butt watching TV is not a hobby.
•Reading doesn’t always educate you.
•Keeping close family ties is important, regardless of how annoying family is.
•People who seem to have it together, don’t.
•Gardening is hard, but rewarding. It is also a workout (ouch!)
•Trying to become a vegetarian is HARD.
•I have only three semesters to go.
•Good communication skills are important.
•I’m addicted to eating out.
•People just need to breathe.
•Marketing is awesome, and I’m glad I’m majoring in it. Statistics is hard but good to learn.
•Spending time with my grandma isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it is the most boring thing.
•Having a father around (alive) is important.

Thanks Ms. Smith for the blog requirement; I’ve really enjoyed reading and writing blogs. It made this online class more personal. Blogging has helped me vent, contemplate, and just share. I’ll probably keep it for future venting purposes.

Ichiban Vs. Sushiko

Today, I went to Ichiban, a Japanese restaurant, for lunch with my younger sister, Amineh. It was nice to spend time with her, because we’ve kind of drifted apart the past couple of years. We used to be real good friends. Anyways, Ichiban used to be my favorite restaurant to go eat at. I’ve been going there since 2002, but every time I go I end up regretting it. Besides the quality of food falling, and their service that sucks most of the time, their food quantity shrinks EVERY TIME I go! Yet, the price keeps rising. I understand that they have established their reputation now, but they risk losing many customers if they don’t step it up. They probably would have gotten away with it before when there weren’t many Japanese restaurants around, but they have much more competition now. I end up paying more than $30 for lunch at Ichiban, and an hour later I’m hungry again. I honestly think this will be the last time I go, because their main meals are smaller than appetizers at other restaurant chains.

Sushiko at the boardwalk has awesome food; it’s just too far away from school. At first I went to Ichiban for their sushi, but Sushiko’s sushi is MUCH better, and you get more for your money, so if you don’t mind making that drive to the boardwalk, I would recommend going there. Get the Miso dressing for your salad, yummmm.

Hobby Lobby

My week has just zoomed by. I am so glad we did not have class today, because I really didn’t want to drive while it is raining; I saw way too many accidents yesterday. The weather yesterday reminded me of the night that Shreveport “flooded”. How did that happen anyway? I’ve lived here 10 years, and I can’t ever remember it flooding before that night. I am looking forward to the weather getting cold. I say that now, but as soon as it starts getting too cold I’ll start nagging.

I’ve been feeling like there is something missing in my life. Maybe I need to develop a hobby, because I need something new to do. My days consist of doing the same things over and over again: wake up, breakfast, school, visiting my mom, homework, dinner, and then sleep. So much excitement—so little time. I haven’t found something that I’ve been really good at, but I’ve been told I’m a good cook, and that I take awesome pictures. Hmmm… I can start taking pictures of random things. I heard Dee’s studio offers a small course on photography, maybe I should join. Besides photography, anyone know of anything interesting to join in Shreveport?

A Little Teary

The Slate article I chose is an advice column. I added it as a hyperlink; I hope this is what you meant, Ms. Smith. The question asked was interesting in a weird way. You’ll understand if you read it. I’ve always wondered what makes those “advisors” qualified to give people advice. Sometimes their recommendations are ridiculous.

This week I’m a little lost for words, and that’s not like me. I’ve been distracted for the last week, but I’m not surprised; we always get so busy when my sister comes from out of town. This time she brought an essay she wrote, and I’d like to share:

The Last Hair

Today my husband’s last hair was gone. I couldn’t help the sadness that surfaced from seeing it. If you’re thinking my husband & I lived a long life together and this hair is the last one on his balding head, I say to you: I wish it was…but God’s will is superior to all. My husband passed away years ago.
We lived a normal married life. We had our ups & we had our downs. The rooms of this house are filled with memories. They have laughter from all the funny moments we shared. There are dried up tears on the couches where I clearly remember crying & thinking “Did I make a wrong choice in marrying this man?” There are all types of screaming hidden in these walls. The happy scream when he surprised me with a ticket to visit my family. The girly 5th grader scream when he tried to pick me up (& almost dropped me!) because I joked about wanting a “piggy back ride” during our newlywed years. The screams of anger filled fights.

No matter the emotions though, these rooms had another thing: Hair. My husband was a hairy man. Nothing abnormal, just your typical “non-Western” guy. I live in a non-carpeted beige tile house. I used to mop, vacuum, pour water and squeegee the floor, then mop with an old shirt, then grab a cloth to clean tough to reach areas….I’d walk into the room seconds later & find a hair on the floor. AHHHHHH! Beard hair! Chest hair! Leg hair! Head hair! It didn’t make any difference when I cleaned, how I cleaned or how often. Every time I sent food to a neighbor, I imagined the embarrassment if a little hair flew in.

After my husband’s death, we did the normal process: funeral, friends visited, I grieved, and then I took it day by day. The first year I hung on to everything that reminded me of him. The second I donated some of his clothes, until the years passed where the house had little traces of him except what little memories I kept. I adjusted slowly and of course as any woman, I cleaned when I needed to.
I was so used to cleaning up hair when I mopped that I didn’t realize they were disappearing….until now. I stood there starring at this small curly hair. I saw it among the dust I swept, and I froze. It had been a while since I’d seen a hair when I cleaned. I picked it up with the delicacy I held our first daughter when she was born. How long ago it seemed that this little thing bothered me? When I cleaned, my mission was to rid myself of the hairs once & for all…but now that I did, I sat in amazement.

I sat on that floor for what felt like hours…and cried. I cried because I missed my husband, hair, laughs, fights & all. I cried because I spent so much time stressing on something so useless, something that was a part of him. If given the choice now, I’d deal with it differently. I cried because, at that moment, I just needed to cry. ---Fatima Ankoud.

My brother-in-law is alive, but this essay was just written from Fatima’s heart in dedication to my mother who lost my father. My sister’s essay made me cry, because it made me think of the small things that aggravate me about my husband, and how much I would miss every annoying thing about him if he were to pass away. It made me appreciate my husband so much more, because I truly could not imagine life without him.

Umbrella

God, I hate when it rains! I hate the bottom of my jeans getting wet; I hate the water drops on my glasses (that are very hard to wipe off); I hate that it causes frizzy hair, and I hate my books getting wet. I know you are probably thinking, "Well use an umbrella!"-- I see no benefit of using an umbrella, because I always have to play tug-o-war with it, when I'm getting back in the car. By the time I win, the inside of my car door and I would have already gotten wet. Plus, I look retarded fighting with an umbrella. So God, PLEASE make the rain go away.
^^^^ I feel the same as he does when I use an umbrella.^^^^

I'm pretty caught up on school work; I have three tests to study for during fall break. I probably won't have time to study though, because of work and my sister coming from Saudi. She lands tonight, and when she's here, we are usually very busy with guest invites, catching up, running errands for things she can't find in Saudi, etc... Basically, I need to sneak away for a while and catch up on work when I feel that I'm falling behind.

I didn't get a chance to go to the Revel this year, but I'm not too disappointed. I never find the revel to be fun; I just go, because it is something to do in this boring city. My goal for this year is to go to the corn maze though. I've never been, and I would like to go see what the big fuss is about. I just never got a chance to go, so hopefully I will be able to this year. Anyone been there? Is it as scary as people say it is?

At the moment, This is what's on my Mind.

Anthony Robbins said, “Most people fail in life because they major in minor things.” I don't know if this is the kind of majoring Robbins was talking about, but this quote reminded me of my sisters. My older sister majored in sociology, and the younger one in psychology; neither of them are doing anything in their life that has to do with their majors. Moral of the story—don’t major in anything ending with –ology. I’m just kidding, but I often question if they chose the right path for education. I also don’t feel that they should have majored in something they enjoyed learning about, over something that would have helped them financially. A big part of why people get an education is to feel a sense of security, so what good is the education if it is not backed up by security? I’m not saying they aren’t doing anything important with their lives; I just feel like they wasted money on their majors.


I am proud of my sisters, though. My older sister is happily married to an educated man, lives in Saudi, and founded a nonprofit Muslim organization. My younger sister finished college in three years at the age of nineteen. Maybe my sisters did not set goals for themselves after graduation, or maybe this is exactly what they want to be doing. I don’t know, and I’ve never asked them about it. I guess all I can do is worry about myself. I’m a business major, and I have businesses, so I’m already putting my education to good use.


I would recommend going to Monster.com and searching for jobs in you field of study, to figure out what employers are looking for. You can also figure out if they are looking for concentrations. For example, my sister majored in general psychology, while most employers are looking for a concentration in organizational psychology, etc...


By the way, my husband’s immigration appointment went well. Our interview only took 10 minutes, which our lawyer said was really good. My husband’s friend’s interview took an hour, and his immigration officer separated him from his wife. It’s bad to assume things, but I’m pretty sure I know why. Well anyways, our lawyer said that my husband would get his green card in two to four weeks.

*** I didn't know that Anthony Robbins is that hot guy from Shallow Hal. Haha, I was only looking for a picture to add to my post ***