Most optimistic fans ever...

The Steelers WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS if: 1) they win out, 2) Cincinnati loses to Oakland & Indianapolis AND beats Denver, 3) Jacksonville loses to Indianapolis, New England, & Kansas City, 4) the Jets lose 3 out of 4 games against Buffalo, Minnesota, Miami, & Oakland, 5) Kansas City loses to Baltimore & San Diego, 6) Denver loses 2 out of 3 games against San Diego, Arizona, & San Francisco, AND 7) Buffalo, Miami, and Tennessee each lose 1 more game.

-Amy's friend's away message

Gotta have faith!

Back to Blogging

I haven't blogged anything significant in a long time. Not that I haven't had much to talk about, its just I haven't had the time to process the stuff to talk about. I don't have a very eloquent "back-to-blogging" post planned, so here's an update on my life and thoughts in the past few months for all my stalkers:

• I've moved from San Francisco to Boston (but you probably already know that). I miss the fantastic weather, beautiful scenery and the general crazy. There's no crazy like SF. But, Boston and the new job is going well and I am having a good time.
• I spent Thanksgiving with Uncle Pet, Lyn and Grandma in Ct. Dean and Michele came up and we all had a good time. Ate lots of turkey and it was fun to see the family again.
• Going back to the Burgh for a week at Christmas (Lebo peeps hit me up). I heart working in pr for the sole reason that I get an extra week of paid vacay with the office shutdown, awesome. Be jealous.
• Playoff outlook going into week 13 (call us the most optimistic fans ever) - We need to win out and we need Baltimore, Seattle and GB to win. Yea, root for Baltimore, the team I hate.
• Speaking of going home and the Steelers, Ames and I are going to the last game vs. Baltimore on Christmas eve. Its gonna be awesome and I'm planning on tailgating with some of the folks from the Steeler bar here. I want to make a sign, any ideas?
• Everyone needs to lay of Britney. Yes, even though she has been showing her taco way more than she should - but the woman did just get rid of K-Fed and have two have his kids, so lets let her have her fun. Yes, I looked at the pics and couldn't figure out a single reason I looked at them, but I was strangely drawn to it. I guess I know how Justin Timberlake felt now. I can add that Britney is a fan of shaving and had a c-section to useless facts I know about celebs.
• VH1 sent me the following rejection letter: "Thank you for your interest in The World Series of Pop Culture! We've received your online submission through VH1.com; however, due to the overwhelming number of submissions for the New York Casting Call, we are now booked to capacity and unable to schedule you for the New York Casting Call." Boo, Erin, Amie and I will not be able to make fools of ourselves on TV.

Now it's off to shower. I'll try to blog semi-regularly again starting...now.

Steeler Nation

Kinda long and makes me homesick, but now I am beyond excited to go watch the game tomorrow.

For better quality, watch it here: http://video.google.com/videopla...2024&pr=goog-sl

Friday quote

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

- Steve Jobs

I swear, I'm going revamp this thing and post more often, big news to come...

Finally, a reality show worth watching...

Project Runway season 3 debuts tonite! There is no other reality show that can compare to Project Runway. One day you're IN, the next day you're OUT. I can't wait to hear Tim Gunn's voice again and hear him say, "MAKE IT WORK." Who will be this season's Santino? I can't wait to find out. Auf Wiedersehen!

For Those of You Not in the Know...

Justin Timberlake: Sexyback

"How to Get the Guy" Drinking Game

There's a show on ABC called "How to Get the Guy." It follows four single women in San Francisco and with the help of two "Dating" coaches follow them on their quest for love. After watching the opening scene and learning that that there are a lot of gay men in San Francisco, and yes, there are a lot of gorgeous available women -- two factors which make dating tough for straight girls (tell me something I don't know), the roomies and I decided that we needed to make a drinking game out of it to get through the rest of the show, especially when they showed the caliber of single men available in the city.

So, it goes like this... if you recognize where they are filming and shout it out first, everyone else drinks. Union Square, Cody's Books, etc.

And then, if you can see said location from our window (view below) everyone drinks. Fun, no?

World On Fire

Watch the video

World On Fire by Sarah McLachlan

The worlds on fire its more then I can handle
Ill tap into the water try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more then I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in these stories pages
The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And Ill try to hold it in
Yeah Ill try to hold it in

Chorus

I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change whats coming
Stay close to me while the skys falling
I don't wanna be left alone don't wanna be alone

Chorus

Hearts break hearts mend love still hurts
Visions clash planes crash still theres talk of
saving souls still colds closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some

Chorus

Desperate Hotness

Shawn Pyfrom, who plays Andrew Van De Camp in "Desperate Housewives" and moi. He's super nice and not evil in real life. My smile is so big cuz he is actually touching me, see his arm on my shoulder?!?! I may never wash that shirt, haha. I look like crap (like, what is up with my hair?) because I was running around like crazy escorting media down the red carpet and inside. And instead of Nick Lachey, I saw J.C Chasez from NSync, Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Jeremy Jackson (The little kid that was on Baywatch...not really sure if it was him) and a bunch of other c-list celebs I don't know the names of.

Tidbits on life

While bitching about life with Loo tonite:
* A lot of RIt'ers are going through a post-college crisis and then there are people we know that are completely happy with their jobs. Loo thinks the difference is there are some people that are content to work in a job and those that want the career - they want their job to be the best way towards the career. This is very true.
* She reminded me that I proved to myself I could survive on my own in the past year and then deal with everything along the way.
* I was in way too much of a hurry to grow up. If I had to do it over again, I'd go to Europe and stay there for a few months. Maybe I will.

Time to get ready to head out. I'll post my red carpet highlight from LA tomorrow.

You never write...

I just havent had that much to write about lately. Trust me, its better reading nothing than what I considered writing about,
Some topics I considered:

*Being sick and getting strep throat
*Lack of adventure in my life
*How I can't find jeans that fit my dupah right...which is probably a good thing otherwise you'd be reading about how I spent more on jeans than food for a month.
*How I keep adding books to my GMAT book collection, but don't actually study for the GMAT
*Work and all the crazy hours
*Spring cleaning fun
*My new favorite reality TV shows (which will remain nameless)
*Not getting my lazt butt to the gym, but I'm running (more like walking with a beer in my hand) a 10k in oh, 3 weeks?

See what I saved you from? Even the highlights are boring.

MBA Headache

So, I’ve been thinking lately about my career goals and what I want to be when I grow up. I know I want to stay in the field I’m in, but not in the agency life forever. I know I want to go in-house eventually, but most in-house positions require 5 years of experience. However, I know working in an agency that I’m learning a lot more about the business than I would in-house. I want be in charge of the ‘big picture’ someday.

Marketing has a wide variety of subsets- you’ve got brand marketing, affiliate marketing, direct marketing, high-tech marketing, marketing research, just to name a few. PR and advertising fall under this umbrella too. Strong brands and solid marketing programs drive shareholder value. I feel like there’s a huge gap in my knowledge. I want to strengthen my understanding of essential business functions and better understand the decision making process. So, I’ve decided to get my MBA.

Last week, I was determined to do it all over the next month so I can start in the fall. Then I decided this probably would not be good to attempt the gmat, applications, essays, recommendations in short amount of time. So, I’ll aim for a fall 2007 start. If I decide to go part-time, I can aim for a January 2007 start.

I’m really torn between the whole part-time versus full-time option. Do I really want to give up the comfort of a steady job and reduce my standard of living? This would be an investment of at least $50,000 if I go full-time. At the same time, I need to remember that going part-time isn't cost-free either. On average, a part-time program is about 3 years long (or more?). 2 courses a semester and 1 over the summer. Even if its a 20 course program, you’re looking at a 4 year commitment, assuming that one stays on schedule.

Four years of constant pressure to balance the demands of a professional career, personal and academic life. I’m sure halfway though the excitement will want and I’ll proceed on sheer determination and commitment. I’ll be going home tired and still have an obligation to meet, whether its something for my job, classes or family. Saturday and Sundays will involve errands, social commitments, academic demands and any work brought home from the office. Do I really want to deal with all that?

Plus, I have to consider the perceptions of the part-time MBA versus the full-time MBA. Part-timers are considered MBA-lite. They have a dissipated experience and spread their energies over a wide range of activities. When you go full-time, you can focus on the experience and gain the maximum benefit.

All these thoughts have been giving me a huge headache over the past week. I also have to take into consideration that the average MBA applicant has 3-6 years of work experience. If I decide to go in fall of 2007, I’ll have 2 years...factor in co-ops and I guess its about 3. So, I’ll be on the low-end. Needless to say, I’ll be studying for the gmat for the next few months.

Football tidbits

Saw the below quote here:

Not a whole lot going on football-wise (unless you enjoy watching the New England Patriots lose players to arch rivals and teams now coached by former coordinators ... and let's be honest, who right now doesn't have a shit-eating grin on their face watching all this unfold?)

So true...but perhaps I shouldn't knock the team in the city I'll be visiting in a week? I'm sure I'm going to piss off a lot of Bostonians in a bar at some point.

On a related note, Karen has been seeing a lot of Captain Sparkle (long story, but she nicknames all the guys she gets involved with and I think I shall start doing so too), which means I've been seeing the Steeler bar crew recently. And it never gets old rubbing the Super Bowl victory in Karen's face. Luckily, she's a good sport.

AND I've moved up to 4th place in the office pool. I had Duke playing UConn in the final 2. Dammit.

My bracket

Thank goodness I listened to my dad and not Will and put down duke to beat 'cuse. My dad did laugh at my Pitt pick, but you gotta have some ballsy picks to win the office pool. : )

Edit: As of 3/21, I'm in 5th place in the office pool. Its not how you start, but how you finish. Stupid Bradley. Thanks a lot Pitt.

why im a nerd

im using thestairmaster and ttyping. ths is hard as i am trying not tofall and touch screen is not effective. but how cool is this.

10 questions

1. How much $ you spend per month (Well within my means)
2. How long you spend talking to your family per month (Plenty)
3. How much time you spent working on the thing you say is your "passion" last month (knitting? uhh. art? umm. Need to work on this one)
4. How far you walk every day (Lots since I'm sans car. I should walk to work)
5. How much you read NOT from a computer (Just finished one of those really bad cheesy chick books and picked up some more today at the library. I usually read the WSJ, NYT and USA Today daily at work)
6. How much time you spend organizing your life (bills, etc) (I usually let stuff pile up and spend a few hours organizing a month)
7. How many calories you eat per day (way too many)
8. How much time you actually work at work (Most of the time)
9. How much time you spend watching TV per month (I prolly waste too much too much time watching cheesy reality tv)
10. Which of your goals you accomplished last year (Graduated, working for a top 10 PR agency right out college)

(Taken from here.)

We are the champions - of the world -

Pure bliss. I've waited 24 years for this. I still remember all the details from the last Super Bowl (Amy/Staci: remember we watched it at my house with your parents and mine went to PAD?), but this one had a much happier ending.

I joined the Steeler faithful at Shanghai Kelly's around 1:30 p.m. After yelling a few mean things at Brady and Lewis (Seriously, would I be a Steeler fan if I didn't?) I spent a good portion literally chewing one end of my terrible towel and having a panic attack. Everyone and their mother was text messaging me and I was calling everyone I knew at some points. But, after jumping for joy sometime early 4th qtr the whole bar went nuts for some reason and I was jumping like crazy and my phone fell out of my pocket. After spending two minutes on the floor looking for it (not an easy feat when the bar is packed), I decided it needed to go back in my purse.

To everyone who has a comment like this:
YOU'RE A BUNCH OF CHEATERS
I DEMAND A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
I WANT BILL COWERS AND EVERYONE ELSES BANK RECORDS SUBPOENAED TO SEE WHO PAID OFF THE OFFICIALS
THAT GAME WAS RIDICULOUS AND YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMEDI
worst officiating ever!

All I gotta say, is who had two missed field goals, more drops, and false starts? We had the big plays. Fast Willie to the end zone, Randel El to Ward. So Ben did not bring his A game. But when he needed to make a big play, he did (3 and 28, anyone?). And he played a major role in us getting there. I'm hoping this is a pattern: Below stellar play in playoffs last year ----> Stellar play in playoffs this year ----> Below stellar play in Super Bowl ----> Stellar play in Super Bowl next year.

This was destined to happen. We won on the 36th day of the year. The stars were aligned for Jerome. Its going to be sad to see him go. Now the off season, what will I do? Let the liver and heart recover for one. I'm off to watch Ben shave his beard on Letterman. I'll blog about stuff other than football soon, I promise.

One for the....

Hines. Bussie. Porter. Cowher. Crazy. More later.

Superbowl Sunday!

The big game starts in just a few hours and I am beyond excited. This is better than Christmas! The sun came into my room this am way earlier than I wanted to get up, so I just laid in bed with the covers over my head for about two hours, thinking about how good it is going to feel seeing Cowher hand Dan Rooney the Lombardi trophy and how awesome it is going to be.

Pittsburgh schools have a 2 hour delay tomorrow. How bad ass is that? I wish I could go to work later. Lord knows, I'm going to have a hangover. The city is going to go insane. I'm sad that I'm not there.

We are going to OWN Seattle, you watch, just OWN. Here we go Steelers!

From my inbox...

Seriously after Sunday, I will write about stuff other than football. But the below is so true and describes Pittsburgh perfectly.

What's the big deal about Steeler football?

Being a Steeler fan means so much more than football.

It means being from a corner of the world unlike any other.

It means being from a place where the people are so tough-minded that they have survived the Homestead strikes and the Johnstown flood.

These people have the DNA of hard work, in mills and mines, without the necessity of complaint.

They live simply, with no frills.

They don't have movie stars or fancy cars.

Instead, they have simple traditions like kielbasa and Kennywood.

They live in distinctive neighborhoods like Polish Hill and the Hill District.

These people are genuine.

They don't have chic internet cafes and cappuccinos, but they have The Original Hot Dog joint and Iron City Beer.

People from Pittsburgh don't have sunny beaches or fancy boats, but the rivers roll gently, connecting the small towns of people whose histories have been built on strength and humility.

People from Pittsburgh don't have the biggest shopping malls or the best nightclubs, but they'll take Friday night high school football and Steeler Sunday over anything.

Steeler football means so much more than you think.

It symbolizes a blending of generations who had the best childhood they could imagine.

They ran free without a care or concern in the valleys of those Allegheny mountains.

Their blue-collar world was easy ... there was no one to tell them that they lacked material things.

There was no one to tell them that they needed more.

As the steel mills closed and the jobs disappeared, some of these people had to leave.

While the world benefits because they spread their Pittsburgh values, they long for their home where things were simpler and more pure.

They teach their kids about Jack Lambert and Joe Greene in hopes of departing not just the knowledge, but the feeling that they represented.

They are everywhere, those Terrible Towels.
They wave, not just for the team, but for the hearts they left behind.
They wave in living rooms in Fort Lauderdale and in the bars of D.C. (and San Francisco!)
They wave all the way to the Seattle Superdome!

They wave for the Rooney family, whose values mirror our own - loyalty, grit, and humility.

They wave for football players like Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward, whose unselfishness and toughness have allowed sports to be about the game and the team. Make no mistake that Steeler football is not just about football.

GO STEELERS!!!