...And I'm Back

After entirely too long of a hiatus, I've made my return to the blogosphere. For those of you who keep up with my blogs: I apologize for the long time in between posts. Intensely studying for finals lead to an overwhelming need for a break from most activities that require some sort of analytical thinking. But now I'm back, mentally well-rested and eager to blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.

The Twitter Movement: Mixed Reviews

Twitter has become a new social phenomenon. Everyone is quickly moving towards the service whether its creating an account to tweet(post messages) , or logging in to follow friends, families, celebrities and/or companies. However, I have very mixed feelings about the movement. On the one hand, Twitter provides a quick, convenient way of reaching a select group of people. For instance, I can use twitter to let all of my "followers" know that I have new Blog posts. Or if I'm a company I can let everyone know the release date of a new product. However, in contrast to these benefits is the fact that Twitter is open to anyone and as such people are free to tweet about whatever they want—and they do. For example, I read someone's twitter feed and over the course of 4 hours they had 'tweeted' 5 different messages all stating where they currently were inside of a club (just walked in to the club, chillin in the back of the club, sitting at the bar come find us). Needless to say, tweets like these bother me. I almost feel as though its an abuse of the service. In an article titled "With Oprah Onboard, Twitter Grows" briefly touches on the problem with these types of tweets. Essentially these tweets make it hard for people to filter out the important messages. To quote the article, when the system becomes overflown with useless messages “People can no longer digest the content, [and start to think] what am I really getting out of this service?” While I'm a big fan of the technology that twitter is employing and feel that it can, and will be, an extremely useful means of quickly disseminating information, I hope that people start to use discretion when tweeting—it'll make it easier for everyone to find information.

Penn Previews

So, its that time of year. Spring is in the air, the end of school is near (no rhyme intended) and college campuses all over America are being populated with excited families, eagerly analyzing the their surroundings to determine if the school is a "good fit" for their child. Here at Penn we call it Penn Previews. Aside from us students having to occasionally "run in circles around confused and wandering families" (a phrased borrowed from a friend), previews is generally a great time. The families add a palpable buzz to the air, providing a sense of affirmation that you school is a great place to be. Looking back at my time here so far, It definitely has been everything I expected plus more. I think this is a sentiment that the majority of my classmates (shout out to Penn '11) share as well. Although we may complain about teachers, classes, etc. there is no doubt that we have all grown and matured as individuals during our short stay at here. Being around great people (students and faculty) who are constantly doing amazing things puts a sense of creative pressure on us as students—forcing us constantly strive for our best. Simply put, my time here at Penn has been amazing by challenging me to grow in ways I never thought possible and the main driving factor behind this has been the people I've been fortunate enough to interact with. That being said, I want to publicly congratulate all of the students accepted into UPenn '13. You are all bright and will undoubtedly add value to whatever school you choose to attend, but of course I'm pulling for Penn.

The Role of Sports in a Child's Development

The other day my little brother, Miles, was placed on a baseball team in my town's Little League. Even though we sent in his registration forms way after the deadline, they let him in the league and needless to say I was ecstatic when I heard the news. Not only was I happy because I'll have an opportunity to watch my brother play a sport I once loved, but also because I am a huge believer in the positive impact that sports have in a child's development. For me personally, sports were a huge staple of everything I did when I grew up. I also learned a lot of transferable skills from sports such as teamwork, motivation and leadership skills. A paper title "Healthy Child Development Through Sport and Recreation: A Discussion Paper"details the benefits associated with playing sports as a child. One benefit that the paper discusses is "smart" risk taking, meaning children are less likely to smoke or do drugs if they play sports. The paper also details how sports can enhance family relationships and also allow children to develop positive supportive attachments with adults outside the family (coaches). Anyway, the bottom line is that I am extremely happy for Miles. I can't wait to practice with him and go to his games. I encourage everyone to support their brother/sister/son/cousin to participate in activities with positive benefits, whatever that may be (*cough* sports *cough*)

The Month of Madness

March Madness has finally arrived. The time for people to fill out their brackets, jump on a team's bandwagon, and suffer declines in productivity at work (due to constantly peaking at scores) is upon us; I couldn't be more excited. The tournament officially kicked off this past Tuesday, with the first real slate of games taking place Thursday. Myself and a friend managed to get a bargain on some tickets ($25/each for $70 face value tickets--thanks Stubhub!) for the afternoon games. It was cool to see Texas A&M v. BYU and Chattanooga vs. Connecticut--Hasheem Thabeet is even taller in person. Although my bracket took a major hit Friday night with the huge upset of Wake Forest, I've decided to share it anyway: Malc's Bracket. Below are some pictures from the game.

Going green, Pescatarianville here I come..

Yes, after heavy consideration and thorough contemplation, I have decided to go green; I'm becoming a pescatarian. A pescatarian is someone who abstains from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. It's usually a stepping stone towards become a full fledged vegetarian—something I'm definitely not ready for yet. There are numerous benefits to becoming some type of vegetarian, a few of which are documented in this article titled "21 REASONS for being a Vegetarian." For me personally, I decided to make the change in order to be healthier and because of the numerous positive social externalities that result from being a vegetarian. I'm not writing this post to implore you to become a vegetarian, but rather to entreat you to stay interested in your health and nutrition; it makes a difference.

A trip to the museum

Saturday, I took a trip to the African American Art Museum of Philadelphia. Trips to the museum can always be an amorphous experience since you never know what to expect. Feelings can range from absolute boredom to a life changing experience; mine was more towards the latter. Connecting with my past always inspires me to learn more and give back to the African American community. I think we should all spend some more time participating in whatever experience(s) motivate you to give back. Anyway, here are some pictures I took at the museum.