Career Center Final Project: Broadcast Package

Here is my attempt at uploading the package from youtube on to blogger. The package is about 2:15 in length. Here goes...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Career Center Final Project: Print Story

As Economic Woes Continue, Students Turn to Career Center for Aid


By: Josh Seidman

Mahbubur Rahman has spent the last three and a half years as a student at Stony Brook University working towards a degree in business and economics with a concentration in finance.

Yet, with only classes left until he completes his double major, Rahman is considering shifting his entire course of study to combat the current recession the country finds itself in.

“There aren’t too many job offers lately, especially for finance,” Rahman, 21, said. “I’m actually considering medical school because I feel like med school is a guaranteed secure living.”

To make it to medical school, Rahman would have to add at least an extra year to his undergraduate career, including taking 12 credits over the summer, he said. But, to avoid getting hit by the economic crisis, Rahman feels that the extra time and classes might be worth it.

“I have family [members] that are doctors already and they’re telling me ‘forget business, just go to med school and be a doctor,’” he said. “You’ll earn six figures and you’ll live a healthy life.”

Many Stony Brook students, like Rahman, who are worried about the economy and are questioning their career choices have turned to the university’s Career Center for guidance.

Rahman, who said he’s been going to the Career Center about twice a week for the last two semesters, is one of the 3,387 individual one-on-one contacts that students have had with Career Center employees this semester, said the Career Center’s director, Marianna Savoca. In addition, over the last three months almost 5,400 students attended the Career Center’s educational workshops and presentations she said.

According to Stony Brook University’s website, there are currently 23,997 students enrolled at the college.

The current version of the Career Center began in 1995 when the school’s undergraduate council “put forth the proposals to the President’s Office that the Career Center be a place of investment for the students,” Savoca said.
Today, the Center and its 15 member staff offer a plethora of programs, including individual hour-long career counseling appointments, resume and cover letter review and writing sessions and mock job interviews, to aid the students who are confused about their future plans, Savoca said.

“Students have different needs so we have flexible services to accommodate for each of them,” said Elena Polenova, an associate director of the Career Center. “We try to increase self awareness through counseling and we help them research the various fields open to them.”

One of the ways the Career Center helps students is by hosting series of job and internship fairs in a variety of fields, said Kimberly Joy Dixon, one of the Career Center’s on-campus recruiting coordinators. While the level of company participation at this semester’s fairs was “pretty decent” compared to where Dixon and her colleagues thought it would be, she is still fully aware of the troubles the state of the economy presents for the Career Center.

“We’re not sure what’s going to happen come March of this upcoming year, especially with the official word that we’re in a recession,” Dixon said with regards to the Center’s scheduled career fairs for the spring 2009 semester. “We’re starting to see less companies contacting us. My voicemail isn’t full every single day like it used to be.”

In response to this realization, Dixon, who has been working with the Center for the last eight years, believes that it is vital for the Career Center to take even more time and effort to maintain its relationships with employers. This way when the companies “are ready to hire again, they’ll still have Stony Brook in mind as the school to come to.”

While the Career Center is in the process of adjusting to the current economy, both Dixon and Savoca expressed surprise in the fact that they haven’t seen more panicked students in their office.

“They’re still taking their time with applying and looking for jobs and looking for internships,” Dixon said. “And we’re trying to educate them on the fact that they have to be even more aggressive in this type of job market then they were a year ago.”

There are various possible reasons for the student’s complacency, Savoca said. These include the fact that students could be in denial about the current situation, they could be too afraid to come into the Career Center or they could have found jobs and internships on their own, she said.

“The most common challenge we see when it comes to students is really a lack of information,” Savoca said. This lack of information can be “either about self or about the professions.”

In an attempt to motivate the university’s students to begin their career development process, the Career Center has added more programs in terms of career decisions clinics and whether or not graduate school is a feasible option, Savoca said.

“We’re seeing an increased interest in graduate school,” said Savoca, who’s been with the Center since 1997 and has been the director since 2000. “Although, we’re a little worried about that because we don’t want our students thinking graduate school is a great option so they can sit out the recession.”

Career Center Final Project: Meeting with the Employees

This past Thursday i went back to the Career Center for the third straight day.

On this day I had three meetings with some of the Center's employees. First, I met with Elena Polenova , the Associate Director for Career Counseling and Programs. She and i discussed many of the counseling aspects of the Center and how the help they provide differs between underclassmen and upperclassmen. This interview was the only one of the three that was not filmed using the digital recorder.

Then, i met with Kimberly Joy Dixon , the Center's On-Campus Recruiting Coordinator. She and i spoke about the process of uniting students with future employers and how this process has been impacted over the last year due to the troubled economy.

Finally, I interviewed Marianna Savoca , the Center's Director. She and i spoke for about 45 minutes about the overall function of the Center and the various projects that it works on.

At the conclusion of this round of interviews i feel that I have enough information to put together both the print and broadcast components of this assignment...

Career Center Final Project: Career Decisions Clinic

I went to the Career Center yesterday, wednesday 12/3/08, from noon until around 2:00 p.m. to observe, record and possibly interview people coming in and out of the Center. During this time the Center was holding an event for juniors and seniors entitled Career Decisions Clinic.

This event provided me with great footage and several quality interviews with students about the function of the Career Center and the impact of the current economy on their futures.

I shot about 25 ten to 15 second shots of B-Roll and i shot five student interviews. One of the problems that i encountered during the interviews was that the digital handheld camcorder does not allow you to separate between the natural sound and the sound being produced by the source. This actually impacted the first three interviews i did. When i played those interviews back it was difficult for me to hear the source's responses over the background noise.

As a result, i decided to conduct my final two interviews (which both turned out to be very productive interviews) outside, away from all of the noise.

I captured the 40 or so shots to Final Cut and then labeled each of them with an appropriate title to make my life easier when im putting the package together.

Ive got a meeting with three of the Center's employees in about a half hour. Im hoping that once these are finished all i will have left to do is actually write the story and make the package...

Career Center Final Project: Photo Slideshow

This is my attempt to post a successful slideshow from Flickr onto this blog.

Here goes...

GREAT SUCCESS!!!

Career Center Final Project: At the Center Part1

Yesterday, around 2:30 p.m. i ventured into the career center to meet with the center's director, Marianna Savoca.

She and i spoke about the Center for more than an hour. I was given a tour of the facility, which has about a dozen conference rooms, three rooms to conduct "mock" interviews, ten or so computers for students to work at and a plethora of pamphlets and books about the wide world of careers.

She informed me that there are 15 employees to account for about 23,000 students.

Here is a list of some of the quotes that i took down during our meeting:

- Typically, there are "two types of clients that the Center interacts with. There are those students that are focused and know what they want to do and those students that are still exploring."
- "Our services are set with these two populations in mind."
- Focused Students - "We try to encourage the students who know what they want to take action and learn about the market and the top companies in the market they're interested in. It's an educational process."
- "One of the challenges you face with an intense marketing program like ours is getting all of the parties, the company, the students, the Career Center employees, to fit together in a nice package. We're like a giant dating service."

I set up a formal interview where i will be recording the conversation for this Thursday (tomorrow) at 2:30 in the afternoon. I will be interviewing Marianna and several of her employees.

Also, while i was there i was able to snap some photos of the Center and will be uploading them to by Yahoo Flickr account later this afternoon.

Lastly, i was informed of a "Career Decisions Clinic" for SBU juniors and seniors that the Center held today from 11:30 a.m. through 3:30pm. I decided to go to the event to shoot some B-Roll and try and interview some students, but i'll address that venture in my next post...

Career Center Final Project: Contact has been made...

Last night i decided to get the ball rolling on this project. I composed an email that i sent out to five members of the 16 member career center office staff.

Here's what the email said...

Ms. Savoca,

my name is joshua seidman. i am currently a junior at stony brook university majoring in journalism and physics.

this semester one of the courses that im enrolled in is JRN 320. for this class i have been assigned a final project where i am expected to write an article, make a 2 minute news broadcast and make an online photo gallery about a topic on campus.

for this assignment id like to focus on the university's career center and i was wondering if you would be willing to assist me in this project. ideally, id like to interview several of the career center's staff. the interviews would be recorded on a video camera and then used for this assignment.

the purpose of the story would be two-fold:

1) to inform students about the function of the career center and how they can utilize the various programs it offers.

2) to explore if the career center has played a bigger role on campus this semester due to the current financial crisis.

some of the questions that i would be asking are:

- Have students been using the career center more this semester due to the financial problems?
- What is the type of advice that the career center gives to students?
- What are the options and services the career center offers students?
- Why are these services useful and important?
- How does the career center help students get in contact with possible future employers?
- Has the advice changed at all due to the current recession?
- What job markets and majors have been the most negatively impacted by the recession?
- Have any job markets/majors benefited from the recession?
- What are some of the things students can do to adapt their career to survive during a recession?

please let me know if this is a possibility. id be happy to stop into the office at some point either Monday or Tuesday of this week to discuss the project further. the assignment is due on friday december 12th and thus id like to get started on the interviews some time this week.

thank you so much for your time and i hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Joshua Seidman
516-732-2143

I figured that i might as well increase my chances and send the email to as many employees as possible. It turned out that this plan of action worked. This morning i awoke to find an email in my inbox from Marianna Savoca, the director of the Career Center.

She informed me that she would be more than happy to assist me in the project. She and I set up a preliminary meeting for Tuesday, December 2nd at 2:30 in the afternoon .

Hopefully when the meeting is done i will have dates set up for when i can interview several of the employees, shoot b-roll and take pictures of the center and get the names of some students to interview.

Until then...

Career Center Final Project: So It Begins...

For my final assignment i have decided to write a story about the Stony Brook University Career Center.

The purpose of the project will be two-fold:

1) to inform students about the function of the career center and how they can utilize the various programs it offers.

2) to explore if the career center has played a bigger role on campus this semester due to the current economic crisis.

Some of the questions that im planning on asking are:

- Have students been using the career center more this semester due to the financial problems?
- What is the type of advice that the career center gives to students?
- What are the options and services the career center offers students?
- Why are these services useful and important?
- How does the career center help students get in contact with possible future employers?
- Has the advice that students have received from Career Center employees changed at all due to the current recession?
- What job markets and majors have been the most negatively impacted by the recession?
- Have any job markets/majors benefited from the recession?
- What are some of the things students can do to adapt their career to survive during a recession?

It's time to set this project into motion. Stay tuned for updates...

Photo Test

Testing....

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

T-minus six days...

With the presidential election less than six days away, Obama is using his record-setting campaign money to remind voters of exactly where the Illinois senator stands on the nation's major issues.

Here is an article about Obama and his decision to spend between $3 and $5 million to buy out 30 minutes of ad time on NBC, CBS, FOX, Univision, BET, MSNBC and TV.

The reason why Obama decided to make this move is simple. He does not want his campaign, his supporters and himself to grow complacent in the final leg of the race. Some People feel that because of his domination in the number of television ads shown in the key battleground states and his lead in national and most battleground polls this could be seen as overkill in some viewers eyes.

However, i personally see this as a good strategic move. He and his campaign have taken the time to raise this money and it is their right to use it. If they dont use these funds by the time nov. 4th rolls around and McCain wins, they could feel like they didnt do enough in the closing days to seal the victory. It is always better to be over-prepared then under-prepared, and that is what Obama is doing. He's leaving all the cards on the table, running up the score and taking the fight to the McCain camp, even with the majority of analysts viewing him as the favorite to be the next commander-in-chief of the country.

What the Palin...

The Republican party's Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, made her first entree into the entertainment world on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

After watching the video i was surprised to see how much i actually laughed at the jokes. there were a few mentions of the debate and what transpired there. the tina fey version of gov. palin spoke about obama's ability to woo the public with his eloquence. she also took a jab at the polls, which currently have obama ahead of mccain wih less than two weeks until the election. she stated that the only poll she cares about is the north pole (ill admit i did smirk a little).

Events like the real gov. palin appearing on SNL and mccain appearing on Letterman are the republicans attempt to a) make up for the drastic difference in the amount of money his campaign raised versus the amount of money the obama campaign raised and b) to connect with the younger generation of voters who right now are leaning towards the democratic side of the ballot come election day.

There's only 13 days left until we find out which side's strategies and campaign techniques have paid off.

3rd and final debate. And the winner is...

Now that the third and final debate between Obama and McCain is over, people have had the chance to look over the events of the day and determine who the winner was.

Like many of the country's major news organizations, local media outlets and political activists, i too was at Hofstra University from 8 am until late in the evening on the day of the debate. To be completely honest, i am merely a college student who, up until very recently, didnt know or care about politics. Yet, due to my proximity to the event, i have developed my own analysis of the event.

Before i get to who i feel the winner was i just want to say for all of you ESPN fans out there, i met Kenny Mayne at the event. He was reporting for the upcoming edition of The Mayne Event and we spoke for about 30 minutes throughout the course of the day. AWESOME.

Me and Kenny Mayne at the debate. Picture taken by Adam Peck.

Both candidates did well. The questions were nicely geared to both address the major issues, like the economy, energy, health care and education, and to allow the candidates to take some jabs at each other's past and personal history. In the end, i truly believe that the real winner of the debate was not one of the two presidential nominees, but rather Hofstra University and its students.

MSNBC hosted its Hardball with Chris Matthews show live from the university (just as a small side note, i was standing in the crowd during the 5-6pm broadcast and was shown on tv for about 30 seconds. it was pretty sweeeet!). WNYC hosted its Brian Lehrer Show from the college. CNN brough its "Election EXPRESS Yourself" tour to the school. And the list goes on...

CNN setup at Hofstra. Picture taken by Adam Peck.

The beautiful thing about these events was that each one of them generated participation and activity among the students. in order to breed a next generation that is politically aware of what's transpiring in our country, events like this debate need to generate excitement among young adults. once the day began, you couldnt walk anywhere around campus without seeing students waving signs, wearing costumes and handing out fliers!

On Oct. 15th, 2008 Hofstra was the center of the political world and its students, many of whom were not political science majors or history majors, came out to express their views and opinions on the election. So id like to extend a congrats to Hofstra and its students for emerging victorious in the third and final debate of the 2008 presidential race.

23 days and counting...

The presidential election is 23 days away and after two presidential debates and a vice presidential debate the Obama/Biden campaign seem to be taking a pretty sizable lead in the polls.

According to Yahoo!'s coverage of the campaign, Obama is projected to take 333 electoral votes compared to McCain's 175. Come election day, the next president will be decided when one of the candidate's wins 270 votes.

In the battleground states of North Carolina, Missouri, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Obama is projected to take home three of the four, excluding Missouri. Aware of these projections, McCain has launched a plan to try and take home Pennsylvania. Even though Pennsylvania hasnt voted for a Republican since 1988, McCain hopes he can reverse the trend.

McCain has poured considerable resources into the state in the week after last month’s GOP convention, he outspent Obama on Pennsylvania television ads $1.6 million to $950,000, and he spent the same amount again in the first week of October.

I was very surprised to see how much of a lead Obama has taken in the polls over the last few weeks. The economic problems and the resulting bailout plan seem to have favored Obama. it will be intriguing over the next week or so to see if McCain can close the %7.3 deficit he currently is facing in the polls...

Kimberly Dozier

At 7:30pm on Monday, October 6, 2008, Kimberly Dozier addressed a packed auditorium of Stony Brook University students, faculty and administrators. For more than 45 minutes, the CBS news reporter spoke about her experiences in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 and how those experiences have dictated her life since.

On Memorial Day 2006, Dozier and the other two members of her crew were reporting on a story when they became victims of car bomb set off by insurgents. The crew was barely 20 feet from the car when it exploded and sent pieces of shrapnel flying towards the unsuspecting bystanders.

Both members of her crew died and Dozier lost her pulse five times in the hours following the blast and thus she was pronounced dead five times. She had shrapnel in her brain, broken both femurs and suffered injuries on a large part of her body. She endured more than a dozen surgeries and 2,000 stitches and had titanium rods inserted into both of her legs to prevent her from losing them.

All the while, Dozier made a conscious choice to handle her situation by actively dealing with her situation, rather than hiding and being controlled by it. She re-learned how to walk and has since written a novel about her experiences. Additionally, she has been in contact with the heads of CBS asking them to send her back overseas to continue reporting, even if she is sent to Iraq. She has realized that until she is reassigned, she can assist other individuals who have experienced traumatic events deal with post traumatic stress and other difficulties following the incident.

Even despite her near fatal incident, Dozier stated that her desire to report and go back out into the field has not decreased. She still has a passion for the profession even after it took the life of her crew and nearly her own.

Dozier stated that the most important thing she has learned from being a journalist is to listen to her "moral compass," and that was the message that she preached to the audience throughout her talk.

Usability & U

INTRODUCTION

In February 2007, the Netcraft Web Server Survey found 108,810,358 distinct websites on the World Wide Web, according to the following article. Furthermore, the same site stated that there are more than 19 billion web pages in the world as indexed by Yahoo! in August of 2005. That's approximately one human to every three web pages!

In terms of gathering news and generating discussion about topics, companies and publications have taken steps to make their sites as user-friendly as possible. Newspaper, magazine and even blog websites are in the process of testing which methods and techniques will bring more traffic to their sites.

NEWSPAPER WEBSITES

Newspaper's websites, like Newsday's, have transformed over the last several years to make its appearance and its information more usable and accessible for readers. Newsday is a Long Island-based newspaper that works to cover international, national and regional news and its impact on the paper's primary readership.

Here are some of the methods:

- The website is relatively easy to navigate. On the left-hand side of the home page there is a noticeable column that breaks down the newspaper's coverage into more than 20 different sections. This compartmentalization enables the reader to find the information he is looking with little difficulty.

- Also, if the user is having a problem finding the article/topic of their desire, Newsday has added a search bar at the top of every web page attached to their website. This search bar uses key words to file through the paper's archives and provide the user with the information they're looking for. The location of the search bar at the top of the pages further adds to user's ability to navigate through the site.

- Another positive method employed by the website is that the day's major stories are front and center at the top of the home page. I do have somewhat of an issue with the fact that the "Wall of Shame" photos are always a part of the website's five main stories, but since these images increase the site's traffic i understand the rationale for leaving them where they are. I personally, wouldn't have these images located at such a prominent location on the web page because i dont feel that they newsworthy enough.

- In the middle of the website's main page there is a function that allows the reader to view the day's most viewed stories, most emailed stories and hottest topics as decided by the users. This component allows the readers to stay up-to-date on the information that their peers find interesting. Many people read news so they'll be able to follow and engage in conversations with others. This function directly plays upon a person's desire to stay current and to know what others know.

- Newsday's website also consists of its very own blog forum. This application allows the users to not only express their voices and opinions on the day's major topics, but it also allows them, in some instances, to partake in a direct conversation with the newspaper's reporters. This function gives the readers a sense of physically being in the newsroom and playing a role in the distribution of news and ideas.

BLOG WEBSITES

As stated earlier, blogs are typically used to generate a discussion, usually about a specific topic or event, among the general public. One of the numerous blogs that exist on the Internet is Poynter's Romenesko web page. This blog is used as a hub for people to view the recent activity and events in the journalism profession and how these occurrences could impact their own lives and/or news organization.

Here are some of the methods that the Romenesko site uses:

- First, at the top of the website's home page there's a section called "News and Tips" that breaks down the various types of media outlets and their corresponding blogs into distinct sections. Another positive aspect of the blog in terms of its organization and navigation capabilities is that there is a noticeable column on the left side of the home page that breaks down the blog's most "popular topics." Both of these techniques make it simple for users to locate the discussions that are most relevant to their lives.

- Personally, i feel that the content on the site's home page is a bit unorganized. The bulk of the stories are simply thrown onto the page based upon the day and time they were published, not based upon the blog's focus or content. This chronological organization makes it somewhat more challenging for users to navigate the site, even with the existence of the aforementioned categories.

- Another positive feature of the blog that is that it compiles information from a plethora of sources to give the readers a better scope of what's going on in the journalism world. There are stories from the New York Sun, Washington Post and Notre Dame Observer to name a few. This function, when coupled with the various journalism job offerings and seminars advertised on the website, makes the Romenesko blog a true gateway for journalists to learn and stay active within their profession.

MAGAZINE WEBSITES

Like newspapers, magazines are also engaged in a struggle to bring page views and traffic to their websites. Unlike newspapers and similar to blogs, many magazines, like Long Island Ultimate Athlete, focus on generating stories and attracting readers that are interested in a particular topic or area. The previously mentioned magazine covers Long Island high school sports and athletes.

Here are some of the methods the site uses to attract readers:

- The website has its top stores, and corresponding photos, located front and center on it's home page. This organization improves the user's ability to find and access the magazine's primary stories.

- Another positive function that the magazine uses is that there are sections that make use of video called "UA Vision" and "UATV." Each of these sections brings the users closer to the action and gives them a better feel of the event. This shows that the magazine has recognized that in order to bring in traffic in the 21st century it is necessary to use components of both print and broadcast media.

- One of the issues that i have with the website is that every time a user visits the home page a song automatically begins playing. While some people might enjoy the added function, i personally feel that it makes the site appear somewhat tacky and is very irritating when trying to read the content on the page.

CONCLUSION

Since i'm already over my word limit for this assignment i'm going to close the post here by saying that from my research its apparent that most news/communication website, regardless of which of three categories it falls into, is currently undergoing a trial period to determine how they can maximize the amount of traffic on their websites.

40 days and counting...

A Newsday image of Sen. John McCain. Other images of the Presidential candidate can be found here.

With about 40 days to go until the presidential election, the Arizona Senator's decided to suspend his presidential campaign in light of the country's current economic woes, a decision which has generated debate and questions from Wall St, politicians and the average American.

McCain has said that right now it is more important for the country to focus on sovling the economic crirsis then on the political campaign. He called for Barack Obama to suspend his campaign as well and for a rescheduling of the first of the presidential debates, which is scheduled to take place in two days.

In response, Obama said that he feels that now is not the time for the campaigns to be put on hold becuase in about 40 days these problems are going to most liekly become either his or Sen. McCain's. Like Obama, i believe that it is necessary for the debate to go on as scheduled so the country can hear what its future leaders plan to do solve this economic turmoil.

If you're interested, i found the majority of the information for this post in Newsday's coverage of this announcement.

Between McCain's announcment, the $700 B bailout bill and the Mets push for the postseason, it is going to be a very interesting weekend.

HTML Flying Solo....

This weekend i went around to local stores and businesses in an attempt to convince people to donate money to my fraternity's charity softball tournament, the APD Fall Classic. This event is going to be taking place on October 4th, 2008 at the softball field on Stony Brook University campus.

The majority of the proceeds are going to be donated to the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. For more information on the charity click here.

Seeing as how we have already roped in several important sposnors, like PepsiCo, Collegiate Greek and Dunkin Donuts, we thought that a lot of the smaller business would be willing to help out. However, this wasnt the case. Many of them were unable to make a solid donation because they "need to check with their supervisors." This entertained me quite a bit because all of the people we spoke to were the manager(s) of their respective shops.

At the end of the day, all we had donated to us was $50.00 and a bottle of wine (which we drank). Even though we didnt make a lot of $ for the event, we were able to get the word out and i feel that people will respond to our efforts and come support us when we host the event in 12 days.

To Green or Not to Green...

so i was perusing the web for interesting articles about the upcoming election and i came across one by Thomas Friedman that focused on a) the republican ticket's stance on how to solve energy problems facing our country and b) getting young college students to become knowledgeable and vote in the election.

Here is a link to the article.

What i gathered from the article was this:

a) Sarah Palin has supported the drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is the opposite of trying to limit our dependence on oil to fulfill our energy needs. She is willing to begin drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge before she is willing to develop technology that employs other sources of energy. in addition, if this drilling were to occur, it would be taking more of the current oil industry away from America's shores. arent we currently involved in a war mainly because of our reliance on offshore oil companies? it is hard for me to see how any politician could support an offshore non-green energy program given the current state of our country. can anyone say hello $5.00 gallon of gasoline?

b) Palin doesnt believe that humans are playing any role in the current climate changes we've been experiencing. really Palin? how then do you explain the rising average global temperature or the melting of the polar ice caps, icebergs and snow-capped mountains? ill finish off this point by simply saying that she'd better make a conscious effort to avoid ever bumping into Al Gore or any of the residents who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, Hurrican Ike, or any of the wildfires, tornadoes and tsunamis that have reeked havoc over the last several years.

c) Senator McCain has evidently avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand America's wind and solar industries. mccain's platform of using drilling to solve our energy crisis seems to be going in the opposite direction of where we need to go. while a few additional offshore drilling programs might serve as a nice bridge between our current oil-dependent energy system and our possible clean power and energy efficient
future, to think that drilling is the solution to our problems is irresponsible and ignorant.

alternative energy is one of the ways america can a) help its faltering economy b) regain some of the power it has lost over the last few decades in terms of scientific discovery and technological advances and c) separate itself from relying so heavily on the actions and events of the Middle East.

HTML Experiment

In today's Mets game we managed to score two runs in the first inning off of two solo homeruns by the life forces, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado. The Nationals cut into our lead in the bottom of the second inning, making the score 2-1 . We got out of the inning, but the offense needs to step up and continue to produce runs.

David Murphy just struck for the Mets, driving a deep triple to center field. Jose reyes, who had walked and then stolen second base, score don the hit, pushing the lead back up to 3-1 . Continuing his charge for MVP, Carlos Delgado drove in his second run of the game, giving the Mets a 4-1 lead. And the second of the Carlos' comes to life with a two-run bomb to right field!

Jose Reyes just singled in Brian Schneider who had doubled two batters earlier.

LETS GO METS!

The Class is ending and i'm going to go watch the game on tv. the mets are up 7-2 at the current time. going to keep my fingers crossed...

Blog Photo Trial...

Barack Obama image from Newsday website, that borrowed it from the Chicago Tribune, that received it from the Associated Press, and so on...



For more political coverage visit...

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html

Presidential Campaign#1

im going to start this entree by saying that ive never been very interested in politics. it has been something that has never held my attention for more than a few minutes. the false promises and fake smiles didnt appeal to me. with that being said, i have actually been somewhat staying on top of this year's presidential race. 

so far i have been intrigued by several aspects of the race, one of which was the vp choices made by obama and mccain. obama is young and charismatic and stands for "change." however, after a historic primary race against hilary, those who oppose him realized that the way to attack obama is by criticizing his lack of experience.  these attacks were particularly focused on his lack of experience in terms of dealing with foreign policy.  to combat these naysayers, obama selected a man by the name of joe biden who has been involved in the senate for over three decades and has a particular expertise in foreign affairs. 

mccain , on the other hand, is a war veteran and a long-time member of the US government. he had a clear advantage in the experience factor over obama and his four years in the senate. then he announced that sarah palin was his running mate. he chose a woman who had even LESS experience in politics than obama does. in my opinion, this move destroyed the major advantage that mccain had in this race. this is not to say that choosing palin was a poor decision, it was merely a questionable one. if she can rally all of the would-have-been-clinton voters to the republican side of the spectrum come november, than the alaskan governor will have proven her worth to the mccain campiagn.

til next time....

9/8/08

my day...i woke up, did some interviews for a high school sports magazine that i write for, the interviews were on this team from suffolk that won the jcc macabbi games on august 21st. pretty cool story...a buzzer beater shot at the end of regulation of the gold medal game. then went to the gym. went to class. had lunch with a few friends. then class again. printed some articles to read for my plane ride to chicago tomorrow morning. and here i am.

yesterday went to the met game. probably the last game i will ever see at shea stadium. very sad. i go there between 10 and 20 times a season. big fan. got the tickets for free from stony brook.  had a great time. delgado hit two BOMBS off of the philly's ace, cole hamels. johan pitches seven and 1/3 quality innings and the bullpen only let a run..awesome. my seat was in the highest row of the upper deck. i had a great view of the city (empire state building was yellow), the titon tron screen from arthur ashe stadium, and the mets/philly's game. quality win. this is why we signed johan. for stellar pitching performances in september. and he delievered. division is looking good, although thats what i said last season...