Aussie

One thing that I always told myself I was going to do during my college years was study abroad. I figured it is an experience that you can't pass up. Afterall, traveling the world is difficult once you're locked down into a career. Well, here I am. A junior in college with only three semesters left, and still haven't studied abroad. Sure, I went to Paris and London with a class for spring break my freshman year, but that doesn't count in my book. If I were to go somewhere for a semester now, I feel as though it would put me behind and prevent me from graduating on time. Today, I received an email about a summer program for my major in Australia. I've heard about the program before, but have been hesitant about it because of the cost and the slim variety of course offerings. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to go to Australia--especially for an entire month! I just figured that it probably wouldn't be the smartest decision to spend over $4,000 on a three or six credit trip. Today, however, I had the sudden urge to persue the trip. When is the next time I'm am going to be presented with such an awesome opportunity? Obviously, my biggest dilemma is coming up with over $4,000 to cover the trip. While looking into it today, I noticed how many scholarships are available for students who want to study abroad--its impressive! I have decided that I will spend winter break applying for scholarships to (hopefully) cover (most of) the trip! I am so excited to persue the opportunity. I now have something to look forward to when the school year is over!

bottoms up.

What is the first thing you see when you look at this advertisement? Is it the upside-down beer bottles, or is it a view of someone's behind? At first glance, I'll be honest, I saw the butt. This means the company did their job though, right? The goal of the advertisement is obvious. They positioned upside-down Heineken bottles to look like a butt in order to grasp their audience's attention. The catchy phrase "Bottoms Up!" fits right in--as the picture of the beers looks like a "bottom", and bottoms up can also be inferring how you hold a beer when you are chugging it. It is also ironic that alcohol and sexual innuendos are often paired side by side. This advertisement accomplishes a lot of things with such a simple picture. It portrays multiple messages, is visually appealing and easy to understand. Advertisements, for alcoholic beverages in particular, are not only begging for your attention, but also are competing with other companies and brands for your approval. It seems as though the most effective way to do this is to have sexual appeal. Heineken does just that, while maintaining some class and respecting boundaries. Both eye-catching and effective, the ad made me chuckle. And thirsty.

Problems.

Problems. They're everywhere. Locally, nationally, and globally--everywhere we look, there are issues that need solved. Our forth and final essay topic is to come up with a solution to a problem. The trickiest part of this assignment, for me, is to come up with a problem that I'd like to research. My group and I brainstormed tonight, and here are a few of the topics that we came up with: coral reefs dying around the world, poverty, child labor, childhood obesity, abortions, and national health care. The problem that interests me most is childhood obesity. This is becoming an enormous--and serious--issue in the United States, and needs to be addressed. There are multiple solutions for the problem, though a little of each solution is the key to overcoming the problem in the quickest and most effective way. First, parental influence plays a huge role in the children's eating and exercising habits. Children look to their parents as role models, and the parents must be exactly that. Educating children on healthy lifestyle choices is important in keeping the children motivated and leading active, healthy lives. Another essential factor is promoting health and physical activity in the schools. Some public schools have cut physical education out of their programs altogether; and in the meantime continue serving their fried, grease-soaked lunchtime favorites. This is not acceptable. Physical education programs should be one of the most important courses in the curriculum, and students should be excited and motivated to be active. Lunches should be healthy, yet appitizing, and students should have a variety of options to choose from. These solutions, as well as integrating more activity into video games, providing opportunities for more children to get involved in community activities and sports, and having more healthy fast food options, are all feasible. A combination of all solutions would be most beneficial in moving the youth of our nation toward better overall well-being and fitness.

Slacking.

I feel as though I've been slacking when it comes to building my resume for grad school and beyond. Throughout my first two years of college, I maintained a high GPA, yet was not involved in any clubs or programs that would be beneficial to add to my resume. I spent most of my free time working two jobs, and not enough time exploring my major and career options in depth. It is time to change that. This past week, I joined the P.E. Majors Club. This club is designed to get students more involved in the community, make us aware of the opportunities out there, and prepare us for life after undergrad. In the coming week, I am attending the NCAAHPERD Convention in Winston-Salem. At the convention, I am also assisting Dr. John Bennett in a presentation. Both of these things will be great additions to my resume. Also, important people from graduate schools all over the nation will be in attendance, so this will be a great opportunity to network. With these two additions to extracurriculars, as well as the internship I have been involved with all semester, I think I am on my way to developing an impressive resume. Afterall, I am going to need all the help I can get just to get accepted to PT school. PT programs are extremely competitive--as most only accept 20-25 students a year. Any extra line on my resume will give me another boost toward standing out among the hundreds of applications.

America's #1 Cause for Obesity

As technology advances, so does the percentage of overweight kids in our nation. Video games like Halo, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft--all which can be played online against people from all over the world--have won the hearts of children and adults alike. They find themselves glued to the television for hours upon hours, addicted to the competitive violence these games provide. Not only are video games an issue, but games and programs found on the World Wide Web are also causing problems. Applications on Facebook, such as Farmville and Fish World, become top priority in some young adults lives--as they have to check on their farms and fish tanks every few hours in order to assure no crops or fish are withering away or dying. Kids are no longer entertaining themselves with interactive games of tag, hide-and-seek, or capture the flag. Instead, they find entertainment in the media and in technology. Not only is this causing kids to become overweight, but also putting a damper on their social lives. Some children would rather sit at home on the couch and play games than go out and join in a neighborhood game of kickball, or join a sports team. Parents are as guilty as anyone. They need to teach their children the importance of physical activity, encourage them to get out of the house and play, and limit their time on the computer and television.

Looting

Racism is always going to exist. No matter how hard we try to overcome it and rid of it completely, there are always going to be people, whether they know it or not, that distinguish between the races. Sometimes, however, I think that people are just looking to make accusations. They make non-racist comments into racist ones just to cause an upheaval. This seems to be the case in the article "Who's a Looter? In Storm's Aftermath, Pictures Kick Up a Different Kind of Tempest" by Tania Ralli. The article discusses the captions of two photos taken during hurricane Katrina's aftermath. In one photo, a little boy is trudging through chest-high water with groceries in his arms. The caption claims he has just been "looting a grocery store". The other photo is a man and woman trudging through water with backpacks and a loaf of bread. The caption claims they are shown "after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store". Though the little boy was actually seen looting the grocery store, and the man and woman were actually seen grabbing the items that had floated out of the grocery store, the pictures raised an uproar over racism. People were having a fit over racism that didn't even exist in the photos. By A.P. definition, the little boy was actually looting--he went into the store and took the items. The couple, on the other hand, was not. The author of the caption was being truthful and accurate, not racist.

Words

Everyone has their own language, so to speak, and words they use too often. Its funny though, you never seem to realize that you say something too much until someone else points it out to you. For example, I used to say (and maybe still do) "or something" at the end of many of my sentences. I was unaware of this until my father pointed it out to me one day. From then on, I would catch myself saying it all of the time--as if I would state my opinion but was unsure about what I was saying. Another word that I am guilty of over-using, as most people are, is "um". When asked a question, as if to give myself some more time to contemplate my answer, I begin my response with "umm...". If not "um", I resort to "hmm...", as if the person I am talking to needs to hear that I am thinking. These are all horrible habits that I really need to work on correcting. Instead of saying "um" or "hmm", I need to realize that it is OK to take a pause to think about my response. Instead of saying "or something", I need to just be confident about my statement--even if I am wrong, it shows a lot when you are confidence in your opinions and statements. Through paying closer attention to my word choice and recognizing the flaws in my language, hopefully I will be able to correct myself and ween myself off of these overused words.