Finance and Business Perfomance Assignment 1 Coursework

Finance and Business Perfomance Assignment 1 - Coursework Example That Sales are growing does not mean this is good because the cost price of goods sold is also increasing faster than Sales. The increase in sales figures may be due to the mark-ups of Louise to the Cost price. Louise is therefore selling a lower volume of goods but at higher prices as confirmed by the - 2% figure above, even though in Year 5, sales grew by 20% after Louise dropped gross margins from 30% to 25%. The gross margin is the ratio of gross profit to Sales and is the mark-up Louise adds to the cost of her products, whilst the net margin is the ratio of net profit to Sales after expenses are deducted from gross profit. Declining (- 4%) gross profits means sales are not increasing as fast as Cost price of goods, whilst the increase (14%) in net profits only means that Louise is controlling her expenses better, as shown by the 17% Average Sales/Expenses figure. Louise can improve the management of her business by spending more on marketing to increase demand and Sales figures. This would result in higher expenses, but it would increase Sales at a faster rate than the Cost price of goods and would result in an increase in net profits. Unless Sales increase, Louise's profits will be squeezed. If the capital of 60,000 in Year 1 is assumed to be the total she invested in the business, which includes initial inventory, improvements on the premises, furnishings and equipment, the van, and working capital to pay for wages and other expenses, the drawings of 64,000 over five years represents her return on that investment which, at a net value of 4,000 over five years does not seem much of a good one (at 1.3% per year). She may be better off depositing her money in the bank for a return of 3% to 5% (Economist, 2007). Of course, Louise may derive fun from running the business or perhaps she invested much less than 60,000 of capital, in which case she may be happy with the 12,800 annual income. An added danger is that assets are growing slower than liabilities (which would include accounts payables or debt to her suppliers), so unless Louise brings down debt, she may go bankrupt. She must manage her cash better to address this. And it seems that Louise is not paying taxes, so she better watch out as the taxman soon cometh 3. By reference to the figures, give a detailed assessment of the impact of the trading and financial performance of "Louise" on the personal financial situation of Louise Walford, over the five year period. [20/200] Louise Walford is not living the high life in Derbyshire we can be sure because her annual income is only 12,800, and unless she drives up sales at the shop to increase her net profits, she risks losing everything if her liabilities continue growing faster than assets. She drew only 8,000 in Year 3, and

Age of revolt Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Age of revolt - Research Paper Example This is because institutional processes and instruments accord people with the chance to exchange a regime with one which appears by public judgment to embody better prospects for development, more effective representation of the people’s will and transparency and civil liberties and freedoms. This was the state of affairs in Britain, France and America before the English (1640-1660), French (1789-1799) and American Revolutions (1775-1778), respectively (Lebrun, 839-40). In most instances, there are bouts of political oppression in the run up to the revolution as a possible alternative. While the spates of state-perpetrated injustices may seem to hinder anti-government criticism at a casual glance and from the outset, it bolsters the envisioning of alternative possibilities, of which a revolution is one. According to Frero, there are different forces which facilitate the consideration of alternative possibilities. A powerful or liberated media is one force which may facilitate the consideration of a revolution. This is because, in the absence of government-instigated censorship, the media can air art, literature and political ideologies which are radical enough to inspire a revolution. Nevertheless, there has to be political setbacks such as misrule, corruption and undemocratic tendencies in order for the consideration of revolutionary thought to concretize in the mind of the public (Frero, 84). Another force which plays a pivotal role in the consideration of a revolution as an alternative is radical or revolutionary art, literature or political philosophy. A society wherein the masses are oppressed and socioeconomically exploited by the ruling class is bound to consider a revolution as the means by which it can bring about positive change upon interacting with radical political philosophy such as Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto where the masses are taught that all state

The Bookshop Company Essay Example for Free

The Bookshop Company Essay 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The company that I have chosen to do my project on is a small book distribution company called Bookshop. Bookshop is a small company based in South London and was set up in early 2002. They have a small workforce of 4 people. Each person therefore has a large and important role to the company. Each worker is always hard pushed to meet deadlines for schools and social centres demanding books. Because that are a small company they cannot afford to have large computer staff to look after al their accounts. They are limited to the time that they can spend on different tasks. Each day they deal with a round à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1000 worth of orders, but this might vary to as much as à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4500 or as little as à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500. The director of the company has put in a large lump sum as a loan to start off the company, which she hopes will trunk into profits, which she will later recoup. 1.2 Statement of the problem I have conducted an interview with the director of the company and we encountered the following problems. * Because the bookshop is new, there are many things that could go wrong and caused bankruptcy. There is the fact that the company has no real image and cannot conduct rely on customers. Therefore they need to profit maximise. They need all staff working to their full potential. They need no wastes of time with things that can be done automatically. * Also with the small amount of money available to them they had o make do with old computers, which ran old computer programs that are DOS based. * The problem that ABC Books as a company has is that it is limited to the workforce that it ca spend on different tasks. Therefore time is a major part of what is wrong. * If there were a way that was quicker than the current way to do it then the time taken by each person would be greatly reduced and there may be a chance that each person would have more time to do other jobs. For example two people handle all the accounts. * If there were an easier way then they might only need 1 person and therefore there would be an extra person left over to do other work. Because of a shortage of time that they spend on the accounts, orders dont get delivered and because it is a small business, it needs all the orders it can get and any a late order and schools will look to other suppliers. This was picked up on by Pat Horsefield (director) when a meeting was held to discuss the problems with the system. Mrs. Horsefield feels that: * with the introduction of a computer accounts system, * a system that can process customer orders faster and more accurately, * a reduction in the amount of paper generated by the system and feels that a centralised system could improve communication between staff, then the whole company will run more smoothly and then they would make more money and she would start going in to profit As the company is new they have not got enough capital to go out and but fleets of vans and cars, they have to rely on people own cars and transport of that of a delivery company which all costs money. Because of this they need to save money on expensive large especially designed programs by large specialist companys that produce such programs. 2. Investigation 2.1 The current system The current system that the company use is a spreadsheet package that was created 17 years ago and is therefore quite basic and not easy use for all the staff that are used to more modern forms of spreadsheets. At the moment as each school places an order, it has to go through a processing system that takes a long time to fill out. Input Processing Output Forename Surname Position School Address Home Phone Mobile Books ordered Total Price Paid Payment method This is the route that the current data takes. 2.2 Constraints of the Current system The format of the current accounting system is in DOS and therefore has no GUI that is useable to a user for formats like EXCEL. The software and hardware are old and need to be replaced. * That main one is that it is not like the new accounts systems such as EXCEL and SAGE Line 100. There are many problems encountered when external people wish to view the accounts i.e. Auditors. * Another problem is that when outside people wish to review the accounts, they are totally unfamiliar with the system and are not able to use it correctly. This is mainly because of the layout and the basic look of the interface. * There is one major problem with the actual system and that is that it does not automatically perform calculations. Therefore all calculations need to be done using a calculator. This is time consuming. If there were a way that the users could just put in numbers and the computer could automatically calculate the totals and the answers the user would have more time to do other things. * Due to the lack of complexity of the system, errors are often made. 3. Requirements of the new system 3.1 General objectives The general objectives that I hope to be able to achieve are: * To create an up-to-date system that can be easily used by the staff and new staff * To be based on a modern GUI that all users will understand * To make it self explanatory so that new users will be able to pick up the methods quickly. * It will need to be able to hold the companys accounts * There will be no need for passwords to any of the data, as no strict personal data is held on the computer 3.2 Specific objectives quantitative * Customer accounts should be found in less then 20 seconds * The user should be able to locate a page by using in the click of a button. * All users should be able to use the system to do accounts. * Customer Details should be able to be printed off at the click of a button. * There should be buttons to do all reasonable jobs (print/open/add) * All pages should have links back to all the other pages, with the click of a macro and should be clearly labelled. 4. The current systems 4.1 Hardware The hardware that is available to the users is a small LAN of 4 computers and a server. All the computers have a barcode scanner for scanning in book barcode numbers and ISBNs. The computers that I have available for me to use are a set of 5 networked PCs at my house of which one has a barcode scanner. At college there is a large number of networked PCs for pupils use. They are all networked so that the users can log on to his/her area. The hardware available to me is Specifications Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Connectors: Audio Line In (1/8 Mini) Ethernet RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT) IEEE 1394 4 pin Unpowered IEEE 1394 6 pin Powered Keyboard 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2) Mouse 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2) Parallel 25 pin D-shell (IEEE 1284A) USB Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Video 15 pin High-Density D-shell (VGA) Included Devices: Keyboard Mouse Barcode Scanner Chassis Style: Tower Input Devices: Keyboard Mouse Modem Speed: 1mb Cable *networked to all 5 Modem Type: Na Included Network Card: Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) normalized-Processor Speed: 2000 Video Integration: Motherboard Included Monitor: No Included Printer: No Sound Support: 3D Audio CD-ROM Read Speed: 40 X (CD,CD-R) CD Rewrite Speed: 12 X (CD,CD-R) CD Write Speed: 32 X (CD,CD-R) DVD-ROM Read Speed: 16 X (CD,CD-R) Hard Drive Capacity: 80 GB Included Drives: DVD/CD-RW Combo Floppy Drive Hard Drive Number of Hard Drives Included: 1 Bus Speed: 400 MHz Installed Memory: 512 MB Max System Memory: 1.5 kB Shared Video Memory: 32 MB Number of PCI Slots: 2 Processor Class: Intel Pentium 4 Processor Processor Speed: 2.0 GHz All 5 of the PCs that I have available to me at my house are all the same. (see above) 4.2 Software The software that the user has available is Microsoft Windows 95 professional edition with Office 95 and all relevant software for the barcode scanners and for the tele-book ordering. What I have available to use is Microsoft XP professional with Office 2000 which has excel, which Im using to create the new spreadsheet program 4.3 Users IT skills and knowledge I feel that the users ICT knowledge and skills are limited to what they can do. They are inexperienced in computer use and therefore they have not developed, because of this there will need to be a basic and informative and self-explanatory interface. I think that the interface will need to be bold and relevant to the tasks. The user manual will have basic information in using the system as well as a trouble shooting section. 1. Consideration of a possible solution There are many different packages that I could use to create an accounts program there is Sage Line100, which is widely used in large company businesses. There is also Microsoft own Excel, which is widely used, in smaller businesses. I am going to use excel to create the program because it is the most commonly available and is therefore the best choice to use. I think that it is also the easiest to use out of the two because many people use the program already and have a basic knowledge of the program already and how it works. It is also a lot clearer to see than the basic graphics of Line100. there is also the case that Excel is cheaper to buy than a copy of Sage Line100. at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½250, Line100 is rather too expensive for a small company. I feel that with the cheaper, only à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½89.99 Excel they will have a better deal on their hands. Microsoft Excel clearly dominates the spreadsheet market. Not too long ago, Lotus 1-2-3 was considered the standard spreadsheet. Excel now holds that distinction, with an estimated 90% market share.

Induction of Aminolevulinic Acid Synthase Gene Expression

Induction of Aminolevulinic Acid Synthase Gene Expression Induction of aminolevulinic acid synthase gene expression, down-regulation ferrochelatase and enhancement of metabolite, protoporphyrin IX, excretion by co-therapy with isoniazid and rifampicin (1. Isoniazid and rifampicin induced liver injury by regulating 5-aminolevulinate synthase and ferrochelatase and enhancing protoporphyrin IX 2. Mechanism of rifampicin and isoniazid induced cell death in L-02 cell line and mice) Abstract Isoniazid(INH) and rifampicin(RFP) are first-line antituberculosis drugs, co-therapy with INH and RFP is highly effective. However, the combination of these two drugs frequently cause liver injury or liver failure in humans. The risk of hepatotoxicity is considerably higher in patients receiving both RFP and INH than in those receiving either RFP or INH alone. Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the mechanism of injury after isoniazid or rifampicin used in various animal models, however, the important mechanism for the combination of isoniazid and rifampicin in humans remains unclear. Here we investigated this combination induced hepatotoxicity using L-02 cells and mice. Introduction Tuberculosis remains a global public health problem whose effects have major impact in developing countries. World Health Organization estimates that there were 8.6 million new TB cases in 2012 and 1.3 million TB deaths. The currently recommended treatment for new cases of drug-susceptible TB is a six-month regimen of four first-line drugs: isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide. (Global tuberculosis report 2013). However, the combination of isoniazid(INH) and rifampicin(RFP) frequently cause liver injury or liver failure. The risk of hepatotoxicity is considerably higher in patients receiving the combination than in those receiving either RFP or INH alone. The mechanisms leading to liver failure in humans were poorly understood. Recently, a new mechanism ,independent of INH metabolism, is found in the RFP and INH co-therapy induced liver injury. Li et al. (Li, et al. 2013) found that co-therapy with RFP and INH targets porphyrin biosynthesis and results in hepatic protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) accumulation and liver injury . PPIX is an intermediate in porphyrin biasynthesis. Normally the concentrations of PPIX is very low in the liver. However, in some cases the concentration abnormally elevated in blood and liver, such as erythropoietic protoporphyria. High concentrations of PPIX in the liver are known to cause liver injury (Anstey and Hift 2007; Casanova-Gonzalez, et al. 2010). Using hPXR mice, Li et al. demonstrated that the accumulation of endogenous PPIX is through PXR-mediated transcriptional activations of aminolevulinic synthase-1(ALAS1) genes. ALAS1 is the rate-limiting enzyme of heme synthesis in the liver and is drug-responsive, providing heme for CYPs and other hemoproteinsis. Activation of PXR can up regulate ALAS1 expression in liver (Fraser, et al. 2003). RFP upregulate ALAs1 increasing heme-biosynthesis in the liver and overproducing PPIX through activating PXR signalling pathway. However, PPIX accumulation strongly suggests that ferrochelatase became a ratelimiting enzyme during INH-RFP treatment (Lyoumi, et al. 2013). Ferrochelatase (FECH) ,the final enzyme in the heme biosynthetic pathway, catalyses ferrous iron inserted into precursor porphyrin protoporphyrin IX to form heme, and when defective or deficient, causing accumulation of protoporphyrin IX. Ferrochelatase is active in cells that produce 80% heme in the bone marrow (Bloomer, et al. 1991) and the rest in hepatocytes (Bonkowsky, et al. 1975). The excess protoporphyrinIX becomes insoluble in bile and exerts cholestatic effects leading to architectural changes in the hepatobiliary system ranging from mild inflammation to fibrosis and cirrhosis (Anstey and Hift 2007). MATERIALS AND METHODS PI staining L-02 were allowed to adhere on glass bottom dishs for 4h, followed by INH,RFP or INH/RFP. The medium was removed after h and cells were stained with for 30 min. Nuclei were stained with 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and images were recorded with a fluorescence microscope. Western blotting L-02 cells cultured in flask were harvested using 0.25% trypsin (Hyclone, Thermo Scientific, Waltham, Mass). After centrifugation at 1000r and lysis using buffer for Western blotting (), total proteins were collected by following the kit instructions. Protein concentrations were determined using the BCA Protein Assay Kit (). After heating at 95 °C for 5 minutes in sample buffer, proteins were separated on SDS-PAGE using 10% polyacrylamide gels before electroblotting onto PVDFmembrane(). Nonspecific binding was blocked by incubation for 2 hours in 5% (w/v) nonfat milk. The following primary antibodies were used overnight at 4 °C: Rabbit anti-human FECH antibody(; 1:1000); Rabbit anti-human ALAs1 antibody( 1:500); Rabbit anti-human BCRP antibody(; 1:500). Bound antibodies were detected using horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies (Beijing Biosynthesis Biotechnology Co. LTD). Finally, the membranes were visualized by chemiluminescence. RNA Isolation and Real time Polymerase Chain Reaction for ALAs1 and FECH Cell Culture L-02 cells, a human fetal hepatocyte line, purchased from Cell Bank of Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, purchased from Shanghai, China, were cultured according to the manufacturer’s instructions 15 at 37 °C in 5% CO2. Cell culture materials were procured from Corning() Discussion Nevertheless, the ability of chemicals to activate PXR is species dependent. RFP is a human PXR specific activator that weakly affect on mouse (Lehmann, et al. 1998). INH hepatotoxicity is thought to be dependent on metabolic activation by arylamine N-acetyltransferase and CYP2E1, but Li found AcHZ and hydrazine do not cause INH-related hepatotoxicity. Hepatic heme synthesis leading to protoporphyria and possible impact with other metabolic systems (Davies, et al. 2005). References Primary Sources Secondary Sources Uncategorized References Anstey, A. V., and R. J. Hift,  2007, Liver disease in erythropoietic protoporphyria: insights and implications for management. Postgrad Med J 83(986):739-48. Bloomer, J. R., et al.  1991, Heme synthesis in protoporphyria. Curr Probl Dermatol 20:135-47. Bonkowsky, H. L., et al. 1975, Heme synthetase deficiency in human protoporphyria. Demonstration of the defect in liver and cultured skin fibroblasts. J Clin Invest 56(5):1139-48. Casanova-Gonzalez, M. J., et al.  2010, Liver disease and erythropoietic protoporphyria: a concise review. World J Gastroenterol 16(36):4526-31. Davies, R., et al.  2005, Hepatic gene expression in protoporphyic Fech mice is associated with cholestatic injury but not a marked depletion of the heme regulatory pool. Am J Pathol 166(4):1041-53. Fraser, D. J., A. Zumsteg, and U. A. Meyer,  2003, Nuclear receptors constitutive androstane receptor and pregnane X receptor activate a drug-responsive enhancer of the murine 5-aminolevulinic acid synthase gene. J Biol Chem 278(41):39392-401. Lehmann, J. M., et al.  1998, The human orphan nuclear receptor PXR is activated by compounds that regulate CYP3A4 gene expression and cause drug interactions. J Clin Invest 102(5):1016-23. Li, F., et al.  2013, Human PXR modulates hepatotoxicity associated with rifampicin and isoniazid co-therapy. Nat Med 19(4):418-20. Lyoumi, S., et al.  2013, PXR-ALAS1: a key regulatory pathway in liver toxicity induced by isoniazid-rifampicin antituberculosis treatment. Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol 37(5):439-41.

Comparing King Arthur and With Honors :: Movies Film With Honors King Arthur Essays

Comparing King Arthur and With Honors Have you ever watched a movie or read a novel without a plot? Most likely your answer to this question would be no, because it would be dull. No one wants to hear a story with no intrigue or conflict. As you read a novel or watch a film, you want to connect with the characters and feel you can relate to the situations they’re dealing with. In every film and every story there’s a conflict the main character(s) is facing. The story of King Arthur, and the film With Honors appear at first to be on opposite sides of the entertainment spectrum. However, both are excellent examples of searching for ones inner human, and life’s meaning. While watching the film With Honors one could pick up on a lot of symbolism, foreshadowing, and numerous heroes’ journeys. Each character goes through their own search and personal development. For example the character Courtney played by Maria Kelly. In the beginning of the film she’s head over heals for her roommate and close friend Monty played by Brendan Fraiser. As the story unfolds, Courtney’s eyes are opened to see Monty’s true inner human qualities. The biggest heroes journey in the film With Honors is the journey Monty a Harvard law student goes through. During a heavy snowstorm one night, his computer freezes up, while he’s in the middle of working on his thesis paper, which he needs to pass in order to graduate. He goes to the library to make a copy of what he already has saved, but then he trips and drops his thesis into the basement of the library. Once in the library he finds a bum burning up his thesis for heat. The bum whose name Simon played by Joe Pesci. Simon makes a deal with Monty he will give him back his thesis page by page, for every good deed he does towards him. As the story unfolds Monty and Simon change each other’s lives. Monty starts off as an uptight, stereotypical, close-minded young man. Before knowing Monty, Simon is very set is his ways, and unapproachable. Because Monty and Simon’s personalities are so different, they are FOILS. As Monty earns back pages of his thesis Simon becomes a father figure to him. He shows him what is really valuable in life. Simon keeps rocks from memorial places; the rocks represent Simon’s life.

Essay example --

Gender: Women and Men in Society between Hinduism and Islam A gender role can be defined as a set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship. There are differences of opinion as to which observed differences in behavior and personality between genders are entirely due to innate personality of the person and which are due to cultural or maybe even social factors, and the product of socialization, or to what extent gender differences are due to biological and physiological differences. I believe there are more differences between gender women and men in society between Hinduism and Islam. The reason I believe there are more differences it going into more concrete details for Hinduism roles than the Islamic roles for men and women in society. Society in Hinduism follow the law of Karma. I believe in karma and that if you do something wrong it’s going to come back and you will have something worse happen to you. Muhammad described the high status of mothers in both of the major hadith Collections (Bukhari and Muslim). One account is: "A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!’ 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father.' In the Islam religion, their primary role played by women are to be mothers, and mothers are considered the most important part of the family. A well- known hadith of the prophet says: "I asked the Prophet who has the greatest right over a man, and he said, 'His mother'". While a woman is consider... ...in the public sphere. Women must primarily fulfill marital and maternal responsibilities, whereas men are financial and administrative stewards of their families. Although the Qur'an views women and men to be equal in human dignity, this spiritual or ethical equality has not been reflected in most Muslim laws. For example, women do not have equal rights to make independent decisions about choice of (marriage) partner, getting a divorce and custody of their children In conclusion, I think the Hinduism let’s their women be more open to the culture. The Law of Manu made these Laws to keep social order in the society. People were divided in four casts based on the work they do. However everyone had a choice to choose his career (work). Hinduism follow the law of Karma because they also believe something bad could happen to them if they don’t follow of the law of Karma.

Vacant Chapter 6 Surprises

After four months, I continue to be astonished by what Emily can do with a dented, often label-less, can. She says it's all the Julia Child reruns on PBS, but I don't care who's to credit. Dinner is on the table every night with mismatched plates and silverware, and our economy paper towels are always folded into decorative shapes. It hasn't escaped my notice at how much I enjoy seeing our laundry mingled together, either. The bottom line for me is that she makes even this place seem like home. After Emily agreed to move in with me – which was no small feat – it took a month until she stopped knocking, then cracking the door and yelling, â€Å"Ethan?† before she would enter through the front door. It was as if she thought I would get mad if she didn't practice her self- imposed ritual. While her discomfort with calling this her home still lingers, it's just the tip of the iceberg concerning our†¦ issues. Initially, she'd been particularly insistent about getting a job and wanting to help financially. I hadn't argued, thinking she was nearly done, if not completely finished, with school. I hadn't bother to ask what her status was, figuring she was old enough to make that decision herself. So, it was with eagerness that I helped her look for a job. One roadblock was her lack of identification. Employers want an ID, but of course, Emily didn't have any. We spent an entire day at City Hall getting the required documentation and social security card, so we could then go to the DMV. That was the day I found out she was barely old enough for a driver's permit – let alone a driver's license. Emily insisted she was nearly eighteen when we met, but I found out she wasn't even close. Shock didn't even begin to explain what I felt at the revelation of her real age. She hadn't lied about when her birthday was; it was a month after she moved in, as she'd first said. However, she was turning sixteen, not eighteen. While I was monumentally upset by her deception, I got it. She was living with the fear of being herded into a state system that could feel like you were being fed to the wolves. I couldn't really blame her. After I got over my initial anger about her lie and the additional guilt of some of the inappropriate things I may have fantasized about her, I realized Emily missed the milestone of sweet sixteen. I remembered a co-worker talking about her sister's sixteenth birthday and the excitement that went along with the momentous occasion. Emily insisted she didn't want anything special and maintained that by finding me, she'd already received more than she ever hoped for after her mother's passing. The celebratory sad-assed cookie I had on my twenty-first birthday came to mind. I instantly knew it wasn't good enough for Emily, so I went into work and ordered the most extravagant and girly cake our bakery had – regardless of the fact it was almost forty bucks, my usual weekly food budget. Her reaction to the cake was like a kick to the stomach. When I brought it home, Emily cried, explaining that even her mother had never gotten her a cake since cake wasn't something you buy on a stric t budget. That was the moment I decided Emily would never go without again. Knowing that cake was so special made it all the more enjoyable when I ate it every meal the week that followed. â€Å"Ethan, go wash your hands please. Dinner is ready.† It never fails. The girl can literally watch me walk from the bathroom, knowing I've just scrubbed up, but she will still tell me to wash again, and I will. I know that she's tied to the routine, not really the cleanliness factor. Many who have been in a homeless situation will cling to routines for the comfort and solace they bring. We sit and eat in silence for the first few minutes of the meal. It's always balanced, particularly since she's taking a health class this semester and preaches the benefits of healthy eating habits and exercise. Sometimes it makes me laugh because she sounds just like one of those infomercials she occasionally watches in the middle of the night after she's had a bad dream. There are times I think it's more than just nightmares, though, when she wakes at night. She carries a lot of guilt around with her given our situation. Emily feels like she should contribute to the household with money. I feel like she needs to be in school, getting an education. Even though legally she could drop out, I'm constantly reiterating that school is her job, and there will be plenty of time for her to contribute in the future when she's a full-fledged taxpayer. â€Å"Hey, Ethan?† Emily asks cautiously, while pushing her cube steak around on the plate. I'm a bit nervous since she says it with hesitance. She hardly asks for anything, and when she does, she makes it seem like she's about to ask for a million dollars, but it's usually something small and relatively insignificant. This time, though, the accompanying look on her face indicates this isn't simple. I put my fork down and look up, giving her my full attention. â€Å"So, Christmas is coming.† I inwardly groan, not because she's brought it up, but because I participate in as little of the Holiday Cheer as possible. It's been awhile since I've celebrated the birth of Christ, mainly because I don't believe in God. Realistically, I see the holiday as an opportunity to earn extra money as I work all the shifts so everyone else can spend time with their families. I try to dislodge my anxiety about the topic but it doesn't work. The holidays are about commercialism and consumerism. Plus, I can't afford to buy gifts. â€Å"Yeah, I usually work Christmas. I get double time.† My dinner still sits heavy in the pit of my stomach. I know I should give her a special day. â€Å"Oh.† Now I feel like a jerk who's robbed her of the magic of Christmas. â€Å"Like all day or just part?† â€Å"The store is open from seven until two, then closing early.† I know why she's asking, but it doesn't keep me from playing stupid. â€Å"Why? What's up?† Emily finally stops pushing her battered piece of meat around on the plate and looks up. â€Å"I was thinking†¦and you don't have to†¦it's just something that†¦I mean, you can, but if it makes you uncomfortable†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I finally stop her rambling by touching her hand. My hope is that she will refocus her thoughts with my unexpected gesture. I'm successful. Emily sits up a little straighter, squares her shoulders, and wipes her mouth with her paper towel-slash-napkin. â€Å"I want to spend Christmas at the shelter. You know†¦it's the last place I was with my mom.†