Nicotine's World of Fun

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - For nearly seven years Melina Salazar did her best to put on a smile and tend to the every need of her most loyal and cantankerous customer.

She made sure his food was as hot as he wanted, even if it meant he burned his mouth. And she smiled through his demands and curses. The 89-year-old Walter "Buck" Swords obviously appreciated it, leaving the waitress $50,000 and a 2000 Buick when he died.

"I still can't believe it," the Luby's cafeteria employee told Harlingen television station KGBT-TV in an interview during which she described Swords as "kind of mean."

Swords, a World War II veteran, died in July. But Salazar learned just a few days before Christmas that he had left her the money and car...

Charice started to become known in the cyberworld when FalseVoice of YouTube posted her performance of Whitney Houston's hit I Will Always Love You which she performed in Little Big Star. Many YouTubers thought her performance was fake and that she was only lipsynching because of her unbelievable vocals. Another video that became a hit was a face-off video of her and equally talented America's Got Talent's winner Bianca Ryan. These videos paved way and became instrumental for her to be recognized by Ten Songs Productions, a record company based in Sweden. Charice then travelled all the way to Stockholm in June 2007 and recorded seven songs, among which were 3 cover songs, Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, Kate Bush's original Running Up That Hill, and Stay of Shakespears Sisters, plus four originals namely Amazing, All The Money In The World, It Can Only Get Better, and Born To Love You Forever. These songs will be soon released digitally.

A few months later, FalseVoice channel then released a video of her singing the Dreamgirls' anthem And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going which earned her an invitation from one of the biggest television networks in Korea, SBS in October, to join a talent show called Star King where she performed the same song. The Korean audience was wowed by her jaw-dropping performance that made a lot of buzz throughout their country. And this made a lot of viewers post her Star King performance on YouTube which made her become more popular that even American TV network E!'s The Daily Ten featured her Star King performance first with "A Star Is Born" headline on November 14, 2007 episode, then placed her on the Hollywood Royalty segment as "A Queen Is Born" on November 16th episode. The same performance video was also featured in the Ellen DeGeneres show on November 28, 2007 where Ellen showed web videos of different people she wanted to guest on her show. After seeing Charice's video, Ellen did a standing ovation and even imitated her singing gestures. It has been confirmed that Charice will soon be flying to LA to guest on the said show.

On December 19, 2007, Charice appeared on the Ellen Degeneres Show and sang 2 songs, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and "I Will Always Love You".

• Shop after 6:00 p.m. the evening before a sale is advertised to begin. Many retailers program the registers the night before, so the sale may already come up in the register even if they have not signed the selling floor yet. Ask the associate in advance for any possible upcoming sales, especially on big ticket items.
  
• Prepare a list to use while you are shopping. Make sure to include alternative selections in case you are unable to find some of the items on your list.
  
• Avoid crowds by shopping during stores’ early and late extended hours.
  
• If you are looking for specific advertised items, take the complete ad with you so that you don’t end up in the wrong store looking for a specific price.
  
• Staple a gift receipt to the merchandise tag in case it needs to be returned or exchanged. Keep your original receipts with any warranty paperwork for the life of the warranty.
  
• Remember when gift shopping you are buying for someone else’s wants and needs, not your own. But don’t be surprised if you find some new necessities for yourself in the process!
  
• Shop safely! Watch your personal belongings at all times including handbags and purchases. The stores are not responsible for any lost items so be careful, especially at the register when you can get easily distracted by the transaction itself.
  
• Save yourself some wear-n-tear, let the charity group at the mall wrap your gifts for you. This will save you a lot of time and free you up to do other things on your holiday to-do lists.
  
• When shopping online, have your credit cards and address book handy. Many websites have timed windows to complete a transaction, so you need to have any shipping information at your fingertips.
  
• Wear comfortable shoes - you are going to be walking on a lot of marble and tile.