March Madness!

Sports are most always fun to watch! But, even more fun when there's money to win!! To break it down to you, March Madness is the NCAA Basketball Championship games. To play march madness, you pay a certain amount and then are in a competition with a group of people. Next, you print out a March Madness bracket and fill in which teams you think are going to win during each round! I don't usually follow College basketball during the regular season, so of course I just randomlly select teams by if I like their - names, color, or state! (haha) Last year, I took all the best team and I almost won!(All the best teams going far rarely happens but I didn't know that!) But, UCLA really let me down!!... I have two brackets this year..in one bracket I have Louisville vs. UNC in the Championship with UNC winning! On the other I have Louisville vs. Pittsburgh and Pitt winning!! So, PLEASE let me know!! Are you playing March Madness, and who do you have going all the way!?!

~Celebrity Apprentice~

I have never quite gotten 'in' to the show The Celebrity Apprentice until this season. If you're not familiar with the show, it can be considered within the reality 'genre' of television shows. Donald Trump is the owner/boss/firer, and the show consists of a cast of celebrities. On the show these celebrities are split into two teams (men vs. women), and are given 'challenges' to complete. The team who initially loses the challenge is then brought into a meeting type atmosphere and one member is ultimately fired from the team, and leaves the show. The celebrities also can use the status of themselves to help them in some challenges, ecspecially where they have to get regular individuals involved. (Who would not stop on the street if Joan Rivers comes up to them asking for their help)

I think this show is not only entertaining, but rewarding as well. While one team member each week is chosen as the teams 'captain' or 'manager', this can be bad if your team happens to lose the weekly challenge, but this can be extremley rewarding if your team ends up winning. The captain of the team who wins, gets money donated to their charity of choice (and it is usually a very large amount of money).
I think that this is rewarding because the celebrities are not winning the money themselves (not like they need any more money!). But, instead they are winning the money for a particular cause in need, which I feel is wonderful!
So, in the end I hope the winner of this Seasons Celebrity Apprentice will be.. Brande Roderick (Playboy Playmate) or Hershel Walker (I think he's a football player)!
OH..and P.S. I am very dissapointed TOM GREEN went home last week, because he is hilarious!

St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day my friends! Today is about celebrating your Irish nationality and heritage, and perhaps your drinking abilities?! But, it was really created in honor to celebrate Saint Patrick of Ireland. It is a well known holiday on the holy calendar of the Catholic Church, and celebrated world wide.
The media also celebrates St. Patrick's day with us, and documents all the festivities going on during the celebration.
Last night on National Geographic, they aired 'Bullets over Boston', in celebration of St. Patrick's Day..hmm interesting isn't it? I suppose they linked the Irish to Boston and Whitey Bulger which in turn is an appropriate St. Patrick's Day documentary!
Today, on the radio station Jam'n 94.5- the radio hosts spoke in an Irish accent, which in turn ended up being humorous because his name is 'Ramero the freakin' Puerto Rican'.
It is interesting to see how different cultures celebrate this holiday! I know here we have a lot of things that say 'Erin Go Bragh' - This use to make me very upset when I was a little girl, since my name is Erin..I thought they were telling me I needed to wear a bra! And as a young girl, you can imagine.. this was devastating.
And, in other countries they wear the colors blue and orange, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Kind of strange huh?

Spring Break Dreamin'

So, what ever happened to being a little girl dreaming of the day where I actually would be old enough to go to MTVs' Spring Break!? Watching MTVs' Spring Break every year would always make it seem so easy.. "Well, I am in college now..I am on Spring Break.. I might as well pack up my bags..grab my closest 20 girlfriends.. withdraw money from my 'unlimited' bank account..and head down to Cancun". If only it were that easy my friends!
Instead of partying all hours with beautiful girls, men, and tequila.. I am stuck working two part time jobs, my Jeep is in the shop getting fixed, and I have so much work to do! Fun Spring Break huh?
I guess I just fell victim at a young age of MTVs' representation of Spring Break. I wonder, do these Spring Break party animals even attend college?! As glamorous and fun as it seems to be there, or ANYWHERE.. it can't all be factual!? Can it?
I very much doubt, MTV would get skyrocketing ratings if they documented what most of us College students really did on Spring Break..like work,sleep and homework!? But..Oh well..maybe VH1 will come out with a reality show called 'Office Break'? And it will show company workers taking a week off from work so they can party in Aruba! Then..I will have something to dream of once more!

Acts of Kindness

Tonight on NBC World News with Brian Williams, a segment titled 'Acts of Kindness' was aired. This was very touching to watch. Under the headline 'Making a Difference', letters submitted by viewers from all over the country were read- mentioning the acts of kindness that are being done by individuals during these difficult economic times.
These stories were so simple yet extraordinary, I would like to share some with you. One letter submitted from a woman in Charlotte, N.C. told of a group of men that call themselves "Hearts and Hammers" go around the neighbor hood asking if there are any odd jobs needed to be done for anyone. They will not accept any money for their services, but hope to make life a little more easy for those going through rough times.
Another letter submitted, explained a woman who works next to a dry cleaning business, and right now the dry cleaning business is asking anyone who has a job interview coming up to bring their nice clothes or suits to them. They will dry clean your interview outfit for free, in hopes it will be one less burden on your shoulders.
With all the violence and sadness we always hear about in the news, it is finally nice to hear about average people being recognized for their random acts of kindness- and I believe they should be recognized a lot more, because during these hard times one single act of kindness can change someones life.

Fantasy Sports

Well my friends, it is that time of the season... tonight my boyfriend is attending his annual fantasy baseball draft. For the past week, I have heard nothing but remarks on players, statistics, and bragging. I am fully prepared for a long spring- knowing that every television will be on either a baseball game or ESPN- but that is not nearly as bad as every single computer in our house will be logged into yahoo fantasy sports!
So, what ever happened just regular sports watching and betting? Well, a fantasy sport is a virtual team where the owners of teams compete amongst one another based on statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association reports that in the year 2007 alone, 29.9 Million people age 12 and older in the U.S and Canada played some type of fantasy sport.

The media allows the owners of these virtual teams to stay informed and updated in so many ways. There is obviously television, where they can view the games their individuals play. On ESPN, there is a constant scroll at the bottom of the screen, which I eventually learned was showing certain statistics of a player for that day and even season.
The internet is the primary tool used to control your virtual team, and you can get instant alerts and e-mails about your standings. You can also get all of these alerts sent via text message to your phone. No matter where you are, you are able to be in constant control of your virtual team.

Fantasy Sports is a more recent formed hobby, coming right along with the new media. Many people love it, maybe if you haven't thought of it- you can check it out. And don't worry- baseball isn't your thing? They also have fantasy basketball, hockey and soccer! (maybe even more!)

Slumdog Millionaire

S l u m d o g M i l l i o n a i r e
To fully understand, why the film Slumdog Millionaire is an award winning epic right now, you must see the film! I saw the film yesterday, and it was excellent. Before actually going to see the film, I assumed I had the basic storyline in my head already (after all the film is being recognized and talked about all over the world) but, that wasn't the case. It was far more moving that I expected. It was visually dazzling and powerful. I don't want to ruin the plot for those of you yet to see the film! But, I recommend you do!
I would also like to point out this film has recently won 8 Oscars (Including Best Picture)!

Social Responsible Investing

Today, in my Corporate/Social Responsible Communication class we had a guest speaker from KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. When first learning about Social Responsible Investing at the beginning of the semester, I found it hard to get a full grasp on a concrete definition of exactly what that was.
Libby, (Our Guest Speaker) did a wonderful job explaining what her company does as a research tool to social responsible investers. I would like to give you a little overview of what she presented to us today in class.
KLD, researches 3,000 top financial coroporations in the United States. They rate and grade those individual corporations on certain criteria they have developed as a rubric of sorts. These areas include Enviornment, Social, and Corporate. She then explained that KLD's clients are NOT the companies. They are the investors who are paying to see how the companies are rated and if they portray CSR.
I think SRI and CSR are very interesting fields to look at, perhaps with graduation on the rise for many of us- you might be interested in looking into these fields aswell!