Can you feel it in the air? Okay, it’s not quite spring yet, but lately it sure has felt like it! With spring comes America’s pastime: baseball! With spring training already underway, I can’t help but feel excited about this season. I love baseball and everything about it. The game and fundamentals are great. Plus, when I think of baseball, I think of the gorgeous, warm weather associated with it, and who doesn’t like that!?
Red Sox
As far as the Red Sox go, the end of last season may have been the biggest collapse in team history. They were nine games up in the division going into the final stretch of 25 games and ended up only winning five games. Awful. But with new season comes a new GM, a new manager, and a new hope. On March 3rd, they play a double header against college teams from Northeastern and Boston College followed by the Minnesota Twins on the 4th. Even though opening day isn’t until April 5th it feels right around the corner.
The Sox have made some nice little moves this off-season to help solidify the team. Losing Papelbon in Free Agency obviously was a hard thing to overcome, but Andrew Bailey (who the Sox acquired from Oakland) is a nice closer in his own right. Cody Ross and Nick Punto are nice utility pieces to help make a run for the World Series. Health is going to be the biggest key to success this year.
Here at BSU
The BSU Bears open their season’s on March 17th at home against Southern Maine. So if you’re a die-hard baseball fan and just can’t wait for the Sox, go check out the Bears! Root on your fellow classmates in the (hopefully) nice spring weather. Remember baseball is a team sport and here at BSU we want to be seen as a school wide team, so get out there!
How do you feel about the Red Sox this season? Will you go see the Bears play this season? Are you as excited for spring as I am?
Have you ever had a conversation with your parents, grandparents or other older relatives about school? I guarantee you have heard at least one of them tell you school is a lot easier now compared to when they students. Their story probably started like this. Am I right?
But do they have a point? Is school really easier now then it was 20-30 years ago?
Ancient Means
Can you imagine going to school and not having a laptop- or even a computer lab? I just can’t do it. So much of what I do today relies on technology. I don’t remember the last time I wrote a paper by hand. However, back when your parents went to school, this was the norm- not the exception. Can you even imagine trying to use a typewriter to write that 20 page anthology? Plus, there were no graphing calculators or high-tech computers to help you with your math homework- just a pencil, paper, and your brain (oh, and a slide rule…)
Advancing, but Falling Behind?
While technology continues to evolve at an amazingly fast rate, does that mean our learning ability does to? I don’t really think so. The truth is, I haven’t used a dictionary since maybe the 4th grade. If I don’t know what a word means – I Google it. Actually, I Google almost everything. More than once a day I find myself with a question and immediately look to Google for the answer. I’m sure that I’m not alone, either.
What about using a calculator for math? Most of the math problems I have done in recent years have been at least assisted by the helpful tool. While this device is incredibly helpful in efficiency, it hinders our learning ability. I feel we don’t take the time to actually learn material anymore. If we have a question or need to find a definition, why learn it when you can Google it? Calculators do the math for you!
Basically, my point is these tools are INCREDIBLY helpful for us to use, and I could not imagine being without them, but maybe our generation should step back and make sure everyone knows the material before taking the short cuts.
How often do YOU use Google? Do you think school has gotten easier in the past 20 years thanks to technology?
Have you ever had to do something for school, like check your college email or Blackboard, yet find yourself immediately headed to Facebook/Twitter/etc?! Maybe you’ve come home from a long day of work and you have to get an important paper or assignment done in a short amount of time, so you rush to the computer- only to be stalled again by a long list of blogs and social networking sites! Fun websites should be banned from my computer, because I am guilty of this. I’ve compiled some ways to gain self control against facebook, and also get my priorities straightened out.
Use Facebook/Twitter Statuses to get Your friends to yell “@” you!
Write a status that says something like “If you see me on Facebook, send me a message to scrutinize me” because if you don’t get offline, there’s a chance you may fail. And friends yelling “@” you on facebook is kind of scary.
What NEEDS to get Done?
Like legitimately? Seriously, if I’m on Facebook/Twitter and my biological clock sort of nudges me in the spleen (or wherever your biological clock is supposed to be…) and says “so, how long have you been on here?” I realize that it might be time to remember why I went online in the first place. This site, Remember the Milk, is awesome- you can make a customized priority list that can be emailed to you, reminde you with pop ups, and if you a fancy smart phone, there’s surely “an app for that.”
Put a REAL clock (not your phone) Right up in yo’ space
I try to use my little battery-operated alarm clock because it makes me aware of how long I’m spending on different internet destinations. If I look at that clock and suddenly I realize I’ve been on facebook for a half an hour when I have five papers due, I’m likely to exit out of the ol’ f’book and get down to business. The visual effect sometimes works best for people.
Keep these in mind when you see you’ve been on facebook for two hours looking at random people’s pictures. Doing that (and I’m guilty of it) is not only a waste of time, but pretty pathetic too. =)
Do you waste time online too much? Do you have strategies for avoiding It?
