Boston College Superfan Slogans

Students at Boston College sporting events are often referred to as Superfans due to their gold "Superfan" shirts. The idea of encouraging all students to wear gold at games by providing each class with a gold Superfan shirt is a relatively recent concept. Anyways, at orientation each class now receives a Superfan shirt with a unique slogan on the backbag. I have been trying to compile a list of Boston College Superfan mottos. Here are the Boston College Superfan slogans starting with the class of 2002:

Class of 2002: Whatever it Takes!
Class of 2003: Go Eagles!
Class of 2004: Eagles on the Warpath
Class of 2005: Always Believe in BC
Class of 2006: Fly Like an Eagle
Class of 2007: Take it to the Heights
Class of 2008: Soaring to Glory
Class of 2009: Talons of Fury...Get Ready.
Class of 2010: Eagles Take Action.
Class of 2011: For Here All Are One.
Class of 2012: On the Hunt for Excellence
Class of 2013: Honoring the Legacy, Pursuing Greatness
Class of 2014: Ignite the Heights with Spirit and Truth
Class of 2015: Building Character, Becoming Champions
Class of 2016: Many Hearts, One Tradition

When life gives you an inch, go for a mile.

Extreme Advertising Can Be Applicable

While some advertising may seem extreme in portraying the competitor as being far worse than it probably actually is, occasionally you do feel like the victim described in advertising. For example, there is this cell phone commercial by Verizon that criticizes Blackberry users who are not customers with Verizon. The commercial indicates how non-Verizon users cannot use the features of Blackberrys because they do not get service so instead there cell phones function as paper weights. My Blackberry gets service through T-Mobile and rarely do I receive any bars when indoors in the city of Boston which is quite frustrating. Just to make a call, let alone surfing the web, I have to go outside. Yes, I too sometimes feel like my Blackberry functions as a paperweight. It is always interesting when you can relate to seemingly obnoxious commercials. When that is the case, good advertising has taken place.

Here is the commercial I am referring to:

Sewing the Tear

Finally back on track...if only the Cardinals can win. There has been a drought and I apologize for not being able to post recently. This past week has been quite tough on me and I cannot imagine a worse scenario in terms of work overload. I had been overloaded with school-work, but worse of all has been my need for preparing for the most important test I may ever take in my life (perhaps the bar is the only thing that can possibly rival this one). Now that the LSAT is complete I can finally maintain my focus on studies while at the same time get a little time for myself...what a relief.

Illogicality Will Never Cease to Exist

People are illogical. I noticed somebody who thought it was a good idea to not wash their hands after using the restroom a lesson that I thought was beaten into us from preschool. Especially with the H1N1 swine flu scare going around you figure people would be at least more careful about contracting illness. There are flyers everywhere reminding people to do things they should have already been doing anyways such as "wash hands," "use tissue," and "do not touch your eyes or mouth before using soap." Nonetheless, for some people these messages are worthless.

Cardinals 1-1, Get a Nice Away win versus Jaguars

Last year has really encouraged me to follow the Arizona Cardinals and I have definitely kept up with the past couple of games along with team news. The Arizona Cardinals beat the Jacksonville Jaguars today 31 to 17. While Jacksonville may not be an incredibly good team, Arizona beat the Jaguars while away. Additionally, Kurt Warning had an excellent game, which is definitely encouraging. The Cardinals have expressed excellent offense but have also shown that they can produce pretty good defense as well, which is something that the Cardinals are not thought of for. Next Sunday (September 27th) the Cardinals will play the fierce Indianapolis Colts. The Cardinals will be playing at home and hopefully they can get another win. I really think the Cardinals have an excellent team this year that is even better than last year's. Let's go Arizona Cardinals!

The Sports Rundown

Last Weekend was the first week of professional football. There were a couple upsets but nothing too major. My Arizona Cardinals lost by four points to the San Francisco 49ers who are not expected to be a particularly good team this year. Anyways, here is the rundown:

*Number 1 ranked Roger Federer loses the finals of the 2009 US Open Tennis Tournament to the sixth ranked player from Argentina Juan Martin del Potro. Juan Martin del Potro is also the player who upset Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Del Potro crushed Nadal.
*Serena Williams had a rough time in singles as several infractions caused her to be disqualified from continued play. However, sisters Serena and Venus Williams win the finals of the doubles of the US Open.
*Kim Clijsters wins the US Open in women's singles.
*Houston Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson gets fined 25,000 dollars for having "pay me Rick" displayed on his shoes which is a reference to the General Manager Rick Smith who has evidently delayed payment. Robinson is fined for acting in contrary to team unity.
*Star Chargers running back Ladanian Tomlinson will not be able to play Sundays game due to an ankle injury.
*Zack Greinke and Felix Hernandez performance-wise are the two best pitchers of the year in American League. While they each have less wins than any other AL Cy Young winners, the teams they play for along with the rest of there stats should make such a big enough impression that at least one of these players deserves the Cy Young. Personally, I believe Zack Greinke is the most deserving player in the American League of the Cy Young award.

Wanting to Sleep versus Being able to Sleep

According to William Dement, a sleep researcher in Stanford, the recommended level of sleep for the average college student is well over eight hours which debunks the theory that merely getting eight hours means you are necessarily "good to go." While every individual is unique, the majority of college students try to carry on their daily university lives with a sleep debt - that is that they are consistently not getting enough sleep. During the Summer I had a bad habit of staying up late, but at least during the summer my decisions were almost entirely in my hands. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, wanting to sleep has come in conflict with being able to sleep. Now it isn't a question of do I want to sleep because several days I certainly would wish to go to bed a few hours earlier, however, within the college setting undergraduates often are left with no choice but to delay sleeping in order to get more work or studying done. I think this explains why a study at Stanford found four out of every five undergraduates to be dangerously sleep-deprived. This ends up translating into a temporary cycle of late nights and early mornings thanks to intense stress and workloads. It is just a couple weeks into school and I too have already had the feeling of becoming nocturnal at times!

To check out some of William Dement's research, a good starting point is his 1997 essay on sleeplessness which can be found at: http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/sleepless.html#know.

Lasko Smart Warranty and Prompt Service

On August 18, I made a post about my broken LASKO box fan that had one of its blades break after three months of intense use. Given LASKO's one-year warranty I gave customer service a call and asked to get a replacement. Less than two weeks after I made the call and mailed my request for a replacement (with my receipt, mailing address and description of the problem) I received a package from LASKO from the mail. I was expected a whole new $20 dollar fan. Nonetheless, this package contained just the inside blades. I found this a bit odd at first, but after second thought not only did I understand why they only sent me a new part of the fan, but I actually praise them for how their warranty policy works. Assembly of a LASKO box fan is about as easy as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so repairing the old fan using the new central blades only took about fifteen minutes before it was perfectly functioning again. Since LASKO does not require customers to pay the immense shipping cost of returning the entire fan (which would pretty much cost the price of the fan itself) it makes sense that LASKO would send customers with a new part to the fan as opposed to the entire fan. This prevents customers from abusing the warranty and getting two fans out of one. Cannot complain with LASKO hear, so I have to give LASKO an "A" for a solid warranty policy.

The Next PC Update Should Bring Back the Trash Can

I remember back in the good old days when the desktop window of computers came with the good-old fashioned gray trash can icon that was clearly labeled "trash." Nowadays the PC icon is a clear recycle bin with the green loop symbol and instead of "trash" the label is now "recycle bin." That is all well in good in that I guess it tries to preserve the idea that if you throw something in the recycle bin it is not quite permanently deleted but rather can be retrieved. By the same token I feel like recycle bin is not quite the right term for roughly 95% of items that get put there. Just today I put something in that I thought "good riddance" to. This was something that I said to myself belonged straight in the trash...garbage. Of course my computer runs on Windows XP so I had to settle for the recycle bin (Vista also uses the recycle bin). I think most updates for computers are virtually useless and sometimes even degrading making perfectly good software obsolete. For the next update of Windows I think it would be cool if the PC brought back a good-old fashion trash can in addition to the newer recycle bin. Perhaps Windows could differentiate the two icons by making items thrown in the trash can be irretrievable saving you the hassle of having to empty your recycle bin every now and then. I know I may seem like a hypocrite here because most readers may find the addition of a cool retro trash can a virtually useless feature. However, such an item would be obvious and not try to make an update seemingly better when it really is not. Additionally, the trash can could not possibly to any harm to the operating system whereas some updates have that tendency. Besides I cannot possibly be the only one who wants to bring the trash can back!

The Next Step Up

I have been trying to keep up a steady workout routine going to the gym about five times a week. Previously, I posted about the use of using 100% Whey Protein which is good for consuming after workouts but is not exactly the greatest in terms of weight gain. Last week I went to the GNC to get the next step up: Amplified Mass XXX. Not only is this supposed to increase workout potential but it also is supposed to increase lean muscle mass providing 750 calories per serving. We will see how successful this is, but I was really excited to purchase this from the nutrition store.

The Sports Rundown

Here is the latest key events in sports.
*17-year-old unranked Melanie Oudin lost in the quarterfinals of US Open tennis. She was a seeming Cinderella story who unsurprisingly lost to the 9th ranked Caroline Wozniacki.
*Pittsburgh and Tennessee faced off in the first regular season game of the NFL last night. Both teams are huge powerhouses and in a very good defensive game Pittsburgh won in overtime beating the Tennessee Titans 13-10.
*The US soccer team beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0. While this was not exactly an impressive victory, it was a victory nonetheless that inches the US team closer towards getting a spot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
*NCAA college team Toledo is suspected of engaging in illegal activities with outside parties which involved fixing games for independent gamblers.
*The red hot Colorado Rockies go on a 7-game winning streak giving them a virtual guarantee at making the playoffs and possibly even ousting the Dodgers for the top spot in the National League West.
*Rain postpones games in the US open including a game that was in progress between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez.

It's All Over for the Diamondbacks - Cardinals Anyone?

The Diamondbacks are officially out of any chance of making the playoffs. Diamondbacks fans all over hope next year brings a better season to the ball club. Several things did not fall in favor of the Diamondbacks with number one being team injury as mentioned in a previous post.

Many things have changed from the preseason outlook. The Rockies were originally expected to be one of the worst teams in the National League. Now it looks like Colorado will get a Wild Card. Before the season, Sports experts were predicting a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Now it seems highly unlikely that the Cubs will even make the playoffs (there is only a 1.2% statistical probability of the Cubs making the playoffs). The Yankees are now the team to beat with the best record in baseball with 90 wins already. Keep in mind that the Yankees did not even make the playoffs last year.

Bumper Stickers

A bumper sticker never written: "Peanuts - You Get Another Chance"

Fantasy Football - It's Game Time

The NFL football season is soon to start with the first game this Thursday between the two of the top teams in the AFC: The Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the football season approaching many fantasy football leagues have already finished drafting in hopes of predicting the big booming prospects of the year. While I have done fantasy baseball for the past three years, this is my first year doing fantasy football. I am pretty happy with my picks for a ten team mixed league:
QB: Kurt Warner (ARI)
WR: Roddy White (ATL)
WR: Terrell Owens (BUF)
RB: Steven Jackson (STL)
RB: Brian Westbrook (PHI)
TE: Dallas Clark (IND)
Wide Receiver or Running Back: Anthony Gonzalez (IND)
K: Rob Bironas (TEN)
DEF: Minnesota Defense

BN: Devin Hester (CHI)
BN: Darren Sproles (SD)
BN: Matt Hasselbeck (SEA)
BN: Rashard Mendenhall (PIT)
BN: Carolina Defense

QB = Wide Receiver, RB = Runningback, TE = Tight End, K = Kicker, DEF = Defense, BN = Bench Player

The Proactiv Test Fails with Fairness

In July I posted regarding my first full day in an attempt to try Proactiv for clearer skin. My skin has almost never been completely clear the last few years, by the same token my skin has never been awful. I gave Proactiv a try having little success with previous formulas. Proactiv was the first three-step formula I have tried and all I can say is that I have a hard time Believing Proactiv is any better than its competitors. I have used Proactiv for eight weeks and I am still not cleared up - so much for fast-action. This makes it seem likely that perhaps other products may have the upper hand on Proactiv. By the same token Proactiv does not promise immediate complete clear up, which is something that might not be understood by consumers at first glance. In fact the Proactiv representatives will upfront say that it normally takes three weeks before complete clear up. Noticeable results tend to occur between four and six weeks. While my results are not dramatic, I guess I there are somewhat noticeable results so I cannot actually say Proactiv has lied on the little promise they have made.

Privatizing Public Areas

Boston is an interestingly condensed city where people all over the world meet. By the same token Boston is not exactly huge area-wise. Downtown Boston is not large but will consist of a lot of random people roaming around the streets that it has caused many stores to try to make themselves more private despite being in such public areas. While the attempt is to attract customers to paying businesses it also seems to create a less homely feel. It is kind of annoying to go to Government Center (an area in downtown Boston) after a long ride on public transportation only to realize that there aren't any public restrooms in the city.

Even for customers things seem quite strict. Here are the rules of a Boston Burger King:


The thirty minute limit to staying while eating only Burger King food sounds particularly harsh. I guess that is the cold nature that Boston sometimes seems to provoke.

Scherzer Lights Out Dodgers

Tonight the Arizona Diamondbacks faced off against the National League West division leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers. In a 4-1 victory the Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers. Max Scherzer took the mound for the Diamondbacks and was rightfully credited with the win after allowing only one earned run in seven and two-thirds innings pitched. LA Dodgers Chad Billingsley got the loss even thought he technically had a quality start with three-earned runs in six innings. Nonetheless, he gave up four runs which gave him the loss and makes him the loser of the game even though his performance was not necessarily terrible.

Notable Performances:
Max Scherzer: 7.2IP, 1ER, 1BB, 4Ks (helping his team on the plate with one hit, one walk and one run)
Andre Ethier: 3-4, 2B

Loser of the Game:
Chad Billingsley: 6.9IP, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 5Ks, HR, E

Politically Incorrect Fast Food

The other day I went into this place called Flatbreads which is a small fast food restaurant that serves excellent sandwiches and wraps. I really like this place, but I find it peculiar that one of their items is called the "Beaner" which consists of chicken, rice, beans and a home-made salsa wrapped up in a tortilla. I really was craving this item so I ordered it...although I must say I did feel a little uncomfortable choosing this item. Maybe I am thinking too far into it, but you would figure they would change the name of this item to avoid sounding insensitive.