Madnesss

March is my favorite time of the year. Not for the weather finally starting to thaw the earth from the icy grips of Winter. Not for all of the spring breakers raging onward, party beads and all, to youthful meccas like Panama City Beach and North Myrtle. Not even for the hopeful prospect that school is nearly over and summer is about to begin. However, the reason for my seasonal elation is the NCAA Men's (not Women's) basketball tournament. With the unveililng of the brackets, everyone starts off on even ground. Everyone has an equal opporutnity to call the big games, the no-brainers (1 vs. 16 seeds), the calculated upsets (5 vs. 12 seeds), and the miraculous underdog victories (see Davidson). Teams, regions, and players are researched with unparalelled vigor. Every possible advantage is factored in to this tedious decision-making process. Then, after the agonizingly-long four days from Selection Sunday to the first tip-off have elapsed, the madness begins. The first Thursday is like Christmas morning to some sports fans. Probably one of the most skipped days in work, employees stay at home "sick", yet uncontrollably glued to the television. Donning team colors for the past week, avid sports fans cherish their brackets and dream about their team dancing their way into the finals. Some bold sportsfans even proclaim this event: "the best days of the sporting calendar," dwarfing such mega-events as the Super Bowl or the World Series. So sit back all you sportsmen and women, and enjoy the ride that is...the madness.

Anything worth winning is NOT worth cheating for

In reaction to the article about lying on the resume, I was a little surprised by the fact that 50 percent of people lie on their resumes. Even though the author emphasized the fact that these were probably little white lies that really couldn't hurt their chances at getting a job if adressed ethically, I still was surprised that so many people would lie on the very piece of paper that was supposed to give future employers the only impression of them. I also found it interesting how much the post-test was used to unearth these egregious mistakes in judgement by employers. The consequences were harsh and probably rightfully so. I surely would hate to lose out on an appetizing job to someone that lied on their resume. From the perspective of the companies, they are losing out on their credibility and what they thought they were getting out of a hire, which could cost thousands of man hours and money. This could and should give them every right to take legal action against the guilty party as well. So in a nutshell, this whole article as well the story about Mary is urging every future job-seeker out there to, for our sakes, don't lie on the resume. It'll really come back to bite you.

The good, the bad, the ugly.

I really enjoyed all of the presentations in class over the course of this past week. This was easily my favorite class activity we've done so far. I really feel like I got to know all of my fellow classmates a lot better through their topic choices and presentations themselves. You could really see who was a good public speaker as well as those who relied heavily on the powerpoints. A few stood out to me as being very good. I forgot his name, but the guy who presented on Clemson's playground: the experimental forest. His slides and animations were very impressive and his cues were phenomenal. He never read off of the powerpoint word for word and his slide with the numbers was amazing. He really knew his topic. James Palmer's presentation topic was very interesting, as I've often wondered about alcohol sales at sporting events. Another presentation I really enjoyed was Leigh's presentation on learning styles and education. Her class activity getting the crowd involved was very entertaining and I enjoyed it. Purely on powerpoints, I think Charlie's was the best because the pictures were unbelievable and made me hungry. As far as my presentation went, I may not show it that much, but I'm actually pretty nervous speaking in front of groups. My presentation was kind of thrown together at the last minute, but was on a topic that I was discussing with my friends the days before. Wal-mart provided inspiration for the ending game by having the Top Gun soundtrack on sale for 6 bucks. I was worried it was going to be too short and I feel that I rushed a little bit, leaving out some information I had planned to share about rock and roll music being the best for you; however, I feel that it went pretty well and was pretty unique. Good class activity and I would definitely reccomend doing that for future classes.

Thoughts on the mock interview

Interviews have never been that easy for me. I've always been a little apprehensive about the whole interview process that awaits in years to come. From the time I was interviewed by Dennis Carter, a legendary local sports anchor, for some athletic accomplishments, I've always sort of stumbled over my words when being interviewed. However, practice does make perfect and I thought the mock interview was a great tool that will help me in the future.

After scrupulously examining my interviews and comparing them to others who were waiting in line in the dungeoun-esque room, I realized that my resume looked like it was done on a typewriter compared to their beautiful masterpieces these girls were clutching. Nonetheless, I persevered and made my way to the interviewing room. Honestly, I was pretty confident going in because not more than two hours before this, our health 419 Prep for Internship class conducted mock interviews as well. So I got a feel of what kind of questions they asked like, "describe yourself in five words". This helped alot when I came into Angie's interview. Halfway through the interview, I realized that I didn't have any questions to ask after the interview, but sort of winged it when the time came based on some of the information that I had read about the program I was interviewing for. The stories I used for the answers were kind of on-the-spot as well, seeing that I had never been to an official interview before. Nonentheless, I really enjoyed this low-pressure interivew and would definitely reccomend continuing it to benefit many more future businessmen and women.