The next morning, Wednesday, May 24, I picked up Tim at the airport in Newark, NJ around 10:15. He got off the plane, walked outside the airport, and I was waiting in the parking lot. We headed north past NYC into Connecticut and Rhode Island. We stopped for a few hours in Rhode Island, saw the URI campus a bit, and hung out with some fishermen catching squid in the ocean. I, of course, went on my own adventure and found a few starfish in the water. After a while, we left and headed up to Boston.

  We got to Boston around 7:30pm, checked into our hotel, got ready, and left to Cheers. From the outside, Cheers looks exactly like it did on TV, but the inside is different. It was pretty small and not a lot of people were there, and NOBODY KNEW MY NAME!!! After we left Cheers, we walked to Boston Commons and just went sight seeing. We got a little lost walking in Boston, but eventually we found our hotel.

  The next day, we got up and went to Fenway Park for a tour at 12:00pm. The tour lasted about an hour and was a lot of fun! After that, we took the Freedom Trail which takes you past all of the famous landmarks of Boston, including the cemetaries where John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Mother Goose, and other notables are. Also, we went to where the Boston Massacre occured. Later that day, we went to a Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Devil Rays game. Sox won! After the game, we left Boston and drove to Scarborough, Maine and stayed the night.

  When we got to our hotel in Maine, we discovered that it wasn't really a hotel! It was someone's house! And we were getting there at 1:30am!!! The tiny town we were in was completely dead and the front door was left unlocked for us. On the counter was an envelope with my name on it and a key to the bedroom upstairs. WEIRD!!! Me and Tim laughed the whole way up and tried to keep as quite as we could walking up the 120 year old creeky staircase!

  The next morning we drove to Portland, Maine and had lobster. We left Maine and drove down US 2 for about 300 miles through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and into upper New York. We stayed in Lake Placid New York and got there about 11:00pm. It was a little rainy and foggy and the drive was a little nerve-racking. We left in the morning and headed for Canada.

  We crossed the Canadian border around 1:00pm and headed towards Toronto and Niagara Falls. We passed through Toronto and got to the Falls around 7:00pm. We walked to the falls and Clifton Hill, saw a lot of the attractions, the falls at night, went to some gift shops, and went back to the motel.

  The next morning, we drove back to Toronto to go to the Blue Jays vs White Sox game at the Skydome. The Sox won and after the game, we left and headed for Windsor, Canada. We got to Windsor around 7:30pm, checked into the hotel, went and took night pictures of the Detroit skyline, the went out for the night barhopping. The bars there were pretty cool, especially if you like clubbing. We couldn't get into any clubs because Tim was wearing cargo shorts and they refused to let him in. How retarded! We went to three or four bars and drank and socialized, then went to the Casino. Tim lost $20 and I broke even. Then we went back and went to bed.

  The next morning, we crossed the border back to the U.S. and went into Detroit to see the Tigers vs Yankees game. The Yankees won and I got to see Randy Johnson pitch! He threw a 6 inning no hitter, so the game was pretty exciting. After the game, we headed home. We caught a little bit of rain as we got close to the Indiana border, but we made it home in about 4 hours. Everything went well and smoothly and I had the time of my life!!!

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jlaxsalinas@robertmorris.edu

For the past year or so, I've been trying to live the 'American Dream' by starting and developing my own business. All my life I have always had little side projects going on, whether I was going out in the winter time to shovel snow around the neighborhood, or I was cutting grass, raking leaves, or doing pretty much whatever I could to make a buck. I've always wanted to own and operate my own business. Last spring, I saved some money and bought a really nice professional camera and started doing a lot of photography. After a couple of months of collecting pictures, I decided that I could probably turn this into some sort of lucrative enterprises, perhaps launching my aspirations of an independent career forward. 

So where do you start? Well, that was the first question that I asked myself. What do I need to do to make sure that I start my business the right way? I went to my county government office and put my business on record with the Clerk's office. Starting a business in Lake County, Indiana costs $9.00. I am still in the process of getting other licenses and permits so that I am fully 'legal' and may legitimately operate my business.

Aside from all of the government mumbo-jumbo I had to do, I needed a marketing plan. How was I going to sell my product? What IS my product? Who am I selling my product to? All of these were questions that I asked (and still ask). All of the products that I would be selling would either be something that I have created (an art piece, brochure, etc) or it would be a service to the customer (resume help, landscaping, painting, etc.)

I decided that the best way to run my business selling custom art pieces was to do it via internet. I bought a domain name that compliments the name of my business and also bought server space. My friend Abbey, who is a pro webdesigner, is helping my put the website together so that it is easy to navigate, aesthetically appealing, and everything on it works. The process of designing the webpage is a long process when the page is fairly complex and there are only two people working on it. This is the step that I am in now.

In the meantime, I have been selling various products through word-of-mouth and referrals. I have posters located in a Tatoo Parlor, a Restaurant, and even one at Giordano's Pizza in Orland Park. Numerous friends and family have also added my artwork to their decor. Some of my photography has been used by Robert Morris College within their marketing, and I have two potential clients also seeing my work! Things are happening!!!

To the right, you have a sneak peak at some of the screenshots of the things that I have done. There is a mosaic (30X24), and my past blogs reflect much of my photography. When the webpage is done, I will post the URL for all to see. In the meantime, if you have a dream to be a business owner, GET STARTED!!!