Do you know what kind of puppy will perk up your pad?

I’m an animal lover. Always have been. Throughout the years I’ve kept a good number of pets. My favorite pet was my first dog; a beautiful brown and black German Shepard named Frisky. The only problem with Frisky was that I knew that when I moved from my parent’s home, I would have to leave her behind because she was not an apartment friendly pet.

So comes the question, what kind of dogs are suitable for apartments? I know that the pups that immediately come to mind are Yorkies, Chihuahuas and the like, but they are not the only dogs that you can choose from. I know that a lot of guys out there may not necessarily want a little Yorkie in their bachelor pad.

So, I’ve found a list that has some great recommendations for your new canine compadres. Here a few:

Yorkshire Terrier: I love these little dogs! With their teddy bear faces and chubby little bodies, you really can’t get any cuter. They love to spend the days lounging around on the couch, waiting for you to come home. Once you do, they’re a regular ball of energy! Take note, these dogs do require regular grooming.

Boxers: These are among the larger of the apartment friendly dogs. Brief daily walks will keep them happy, and their short haired coats are very easy to manage.

Pugs: I love their little smushed in faces! These are the class clown of the apartment suitable dogs. They don’t need extra care when it comes to grooming, and like any dog, a brief walk will do well to keep them happy and healthy.

No matter what dog you choose, I’m sure that with the right amount of love and care, they will become a crucial part of your family right away.

What type of dog do you own, or do you want to own?

Fogelman Management Group 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge Leader Board: Are you on it?

The first weekend of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is in the books and the leader board for the Fogelman Mangaement Group 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge is set. With 50+ bracket submissions, this is sure to be a tight race.

 

A few interesting statistics developed among the Fogelman residents that participated. Among them…

• 31% of the participants picked Kansas to win it all.
• 14% picked Kentucky
• 12% picked Duke
• 7% picked Syracuse

Here is the leader board after the first two rounds of the tournament along with their pick to win the whole thing…

1. Kim Martin (Kansas), 46 pts.
2. Garrett James (Kansas), 44 pts.
3. Kate Asselin (Kansas), 44 pts.
4. Amanda Hill (Michigan State), 43 pts.
5. Heather Towe (Kansas), 43 pts.
6. Zach Hightower (N/A), 42 pts.
7. Chris Gholston (Syracuse), 42 pts.
8. Janelle Crandall (Kansas), 42 pts.
9. Dani Soto (Kansas), 42 pts.
10. Melissa Rosenthal (Kansas), 40 pts.

The tournament itself is proving to be one of the best in years, with major upsets and Cinderella stories playing out as the field battled to join the ranks of the “Sweet 16”. Northern Iowa’s upset over Kansas in the second round will definitely shake up the Fogelman Bracket Challenge leader board in the coming weeks.

If one of your neighbors has made it on the leader board, be sure to drop them a note of congratulations on your community’s Facebook page and cheer them on. And make sure you stay tuned to all of the drama in both the NCAA tournament and the Fogelman Management Group Bracket Challenge. I’ll post a new update next week.

The Regional Semifinals play out today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday, March 26-27), with the Regional Finals being played on Saturday and Sunday, March 27-28. Check your local CBS affiliate for game times.

Support Local Restaurants

Now, I know that I love a good double cheeseburger now and again from McDonalds. But many times, I try to eat at a local restaurant to get that good, down home feeling that I know no one else can get unless they live in my city. That makes it all the more special.

I’m sure that you know of which shops to head to around Memphis, but just in case you don’t:

1. The Beauty Shop (yeah, I know it sounds like a salon, but the food is GREAT trust me!)
2. Muddy’s Bake Shop (you’ve GOT to try the Shady Wake pecan pie!)
3. Corky’s (Great B-B-Q)
4. And Huey’s to name a few.

The food is great and the service is greater. Who better to dine with than those who reside in your own backyard? Head out to these restaurants today!

What local restaurants do you frequent?

Road Rage

In my opinion, the best way to conquer road rage is to stay off of the road. It’s honestly very hard to not yell at a driver or call them a name for cutting you off, almost sideswiping you, or driving 25 miles per hour on a 65 mph highway. And that’s some of the nicer things that you can do. What’s the greatest contributor to road rage? That’s easy: rush hour traffic.

Not matter where you are, the period between 5 pm and 6:30 pm is the WORST. There is no where you can go to avoid traffic, because it’s almost guaranteed that 40 people in front of you thought of the same route.

I have a friend who should be the poster child for road rage. If someone in front of her is going too slow, she speeds up until she’s right on their bumper to get them to speed up. If someone behind her is following too closely behind her, she purposely slows down, just to irritate them. Many times, it works, because the person will pass and make some very rude gestures. I guess they need to find a conquering road rage 101 class too, huh?

Road rage in not an admirable thing to have, and I don’t necessarily have it. Impatient drivers turn into reckless drivers, which in turn bring about accidents, and that’s what we don’t want. So, I found a website that lists certain things that one could do in order to get their road rage under control.

Some of the things that they list are things like: getting enough sleep (driving on a lack of sleep can make people cranky, and further induce ones dormant road rage. Or their not so dormant road rage. ), plan your tip ahead and give yourself a little extra time to leave in order to avoid some of the traffic that your normally encounter, and don’t listen to aggressive music or any music that will get you riled up. Some people listen to music that automatically makes them react in a way that’s not really conducive to driving, let alone their eardrums.

Will these techniques work for me? Who knows? We’ll just have to see.

Do you have road rage? How do you handle it?

School Lunches: Bad Then, More Than Likely Worse Now

When I was in elementary school, I ate school lunches. I did all the way until my sophomore year of high school. After that, my friends and I would go to the Wendy’s down the street for lunch. The nutritional value of the foods was never what I considered when I would push my tray away; it was the taste.

Being that elementary school was a good bit of time ago for me, I don’t exactly remember the types of food that was served, but I DO remember that we used to have pizza every Friday. The pizza was always served with corn, a brownie, and a bag of chocolate milk. Now, I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to put milk in a bag and give it to a bunch of 5 -12 year olds, but let me tell you, there was guaranteed to be at least milk splotch on the wall by the end of the lunch period.

At times, the lunches were so bad that I would tell the cafeteria workers that I was allergic to certain ingredients just so I wouldn’t have to eat them. Sometimes this worked out in my favor and I would get something else on the menu, sometimes it kicked me in the head. For example, I once told the cafeteria ladies that I was allergic to cheese, and they happened to remember this little tid-bit of information, and gave me tuna casserole on pizza day. I went hungry that day. And little kids are brutal! I couldn’t get one person to share with me!

High school was slightly better. We had more options. If I didn’t want what was being served in the lunch line, I could go to a little kiosk on the other side of the cafeteria and get a decent chicken sandwich and cookies. (I had a lot of those). There were patterns I would recognize however: if we had spaghetti one day, the next day would bring nachos, and the next chili cheese fries.

However, I can honestly say that I haven’t eaten school lunch everyday for an entire year. A teacher in Illinois has taken on this task to protest the value and nutrition of school lunches. I think she’s very brave to face that food on a daily basis. She keeps track of each and every meal by pictures that she places on her blog. I just hope that people take notice.

How did you feel about your school lunches?

MARCH MADNESS is here! Join the Fogelman Management Group 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge!!!

Are you ready for March Madness? Join the Fogelman Management 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge on Facebook and compete against other residents from your community, and other Fogelman properties, to see who the most basketball savvy resident is! Prizes have yet to be determined. You must enter and complete a bracket before the games begin this Thursday, March 18, 2010 at Noon EST/11 am CST/.

Also, each submission is automatically entered into the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool created by Citizen Sports.

Follow this link to join the Fogelman Management Group 2010 NCAA Bracket Challenge!

How does the bracket scoring system work?

The following scoring system is used for the bracket: Round Points Received for correctly choosing the winning team…

• Rd. 1 (round of 64): 1 pt.
• Rd. 2 (round of 32): 2 pts.
• Rd. 3 (round of 16): 4 pts.
• Rd. 4 (round of 8): 8 pts.
• Rd. 5 (round of 4): 16 pts.
• Rd. 6 (championship): 32 pts.

When and where can I see how I’m doing compared to other people in my pool?

Once the tournament begins, click on the pool name from the homepage. You’ll see how many points each person in your pool has scored as well as the team they picked as the national champ.

What can I win in the Fogelman Management NCAA Bracket Challenge?

The top three finishers (in points) that are residents of a community that Fogelman Management Group manages will receive prizes yet to be determined. Stay tuned!

What is the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool created by Citizen Sports?

Every entry is automatically submitted to the $5k March Mania Bracket Pool. The winner of the bracket pool will win the $5000 cash grand prize (pending eligibility, see full rules here).

No Funeral for my Smartphone Battery??

I think that my Android phone and the Energizer Bunny need to have a little chat. If that pink, fuzzy, shades wearing mammal can hook my phone up and help to keep my phone alive for potentially more than a day, I’ll be forever grateful.

I’m sure I’m not the only one, who is ever increasingly frustrated about the lack of battery life of my Smartphone. I love the fact that I can surf the internet, text, and talk all at the same time, while keeping up on my feed subscriptions, checking game scores, and weather reports. Yes, I enjoy all of these luxuries, but they KILL the battery. By 8 pm, if I’m nowhere near a charger, it’s a wrap.

So, no surprise, I need help. I found an article that claims that it can help to give your lithium-ion battery more stamina. They actually list some very good tips:

Their first tip is to reconsider your network. The C.D.M.A. mobile standard used by Verizon takes more power than the G.S.M. used by AT&T and T-Mobile. For those who use their phones constantly, you may consider switching your network provider if they provide the coverage you need. For a T-Mobile user like myself, this looks promising. :

Another tip is to dim your LCD screen. The brighter the screen, the more juice you lose. So if you’re in a dimly lit room, dim the screen as well. Or, if your phone comes with an auto-dimmer be sure to use it.

You can also disconnect your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth searching tools when not in use.

The article lists a good bit more that will save you from the slow singing and flower bringing for your battery. Being as desperate as I am, I’m going to try these techniques right now! Let me know if you do!

Do you know of any other ways to save your battery life from an unflattering fate?

The 30 Worst Sandwiches in America

Don’t you just hate when these lists come out and your favorite sandwich is on there? Maybe even in the top 10? Or 5? Well in this list, one of my favorite sandwiches, the Chicken Caesar wrap from Chick-fil-A, is number 20. Why must everything that taste good be bad for you?!

At least with this list, instead of telling you that you’re slowly headed toward obesity, they give you an alternative sandwich or product at the same place, that’s just as good. For example, the alternative to my Chick-fil-A Chicken Caesar, the list the alternative as the Chargrilled Chicken Club Sandwich. I’ve had it before, and it’s pretty good. I would just prefer the Caesar. Apparently, if I want to watch my figure, I need to start eating wisely.

Smart eating isn’t fun for me. What about you? Is your favorite on the list? How do you go to your favorite restaurant and not eat your days worth of calories in one sitting?

University of Memphis adding New Online Classes

I think that online classes are a fantastic idea. It gives people the chance to further their education even if they can’t make it to a campus. They give you the opportunity to work from home where you have many responsibilities, especially if you have a family to raise. The only downside is that you don’t get a chance to have the full college experience. Unless you’ve already been there and done that.

Starting this Fall, the University of Memphis will almost double their offering of online classes. They will offer 18 new degree programs, including bachelor’s degrees in philosophy, African-American studies, business administration and nursing, plus master’s degrees in teaching, health administration and history.

Class sizes have grown tremendously, and students don’t have to worry about getting cheated out of a quality education just because they are not in the professor’s face. The classes are taught equally.

For more information see ecampus.memphis.edu.

Have you ever taken online classes? Do you think that they should be offered and are helping society, or do you think that students are not getting as much as they could be if they were on an actual campus?

A Lot of Surprises at the Oscars

Honestly, this is the first Acadamy Award show that I sat all the way through. In recent years, I would be a channel flipper and only catch the categories that I wanted to see. I think that this was actually an entertaining show; not performance wise (even though that dance troupe was HOT, and seeing as how there really wasn’t many performances, except for Neil Patrick Harris’ opening), but because of the films that were nominated.

One of the biggest, if not THE biggest surprise of the night, was that ‘Avatar’ was not the “big winner” of the night. I actually had all of my money on the fact that the James Cameron film was going to get the top honor. I haven’t even seen ‘Hurt Locker’. I will definitely be watching this week however, to make sure that it was “Oscar worthy”. It had better been, with the six awards that it won, including the “big 2″: Best Picture and Best Director.

What did not surprise me, was that Sandra Bullock recieved her very first Acadamy Award for her stunning performance in “The Blind Side”. I truly think that she deserved it. Funny thing though; when I was watching the Barbara Walter’s Oscar Night Special, Sandra Bullock mentioned that she wouldn’t cry. She said that her mother would get on her for crying. But when she accepted her award, her emotions overcame her, and she almost let go. I thought it was very touching.

Congrats to all winners and nominees!

What did you think of the Oscars? Were you surprised with the results?

Photos courtesy of ABC Network

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