You want to drink water. Like a metric ass ton of it every day…. Or realistically way more than you think you need. I’ll tell you how much more later in this post.
Heads up kids: your body is made up of water. Like 60% water. So let me ask you something: would you rather keep your engine lubricated with clean oil or sludge?
See the important thing to remember about hydration is that it is highly underrated by most people. Just because you can get by with 2 glasses of water a day doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for you.
Quick test: is your pee yellow? If YES then you’re not hydrated properly. You want that shit to be clear. (It’s not actually shit… but you know what I mean)
Some of the most important body parts are heavily dependent on water. Your skin? Yup that’s got a lot of water. Why do you think your skin is elastic? Water in the cells baby. Drink tons of water and it starts becoming butter soft. Your stomach? Yup that uses water to help digest, transport nutrients to cells, take nutrients from cells, and bring the waster to your intestines. And don’t get me started on why you need water to poop.
Additionally, water makes up 93% of your blood. Seem high? Your blood is LIQUID!!! And that shit flows through your body easy! This is where my car analogy makes more sense. If your blood starts loosing its water content or you don’t hydrate to clear all the crap out of your body (blood helps transport waste), then you start feeling like CRAP. Why? If your blood doesn’t transport the waste out, and that doesn’t exit the body, all the junk literally starts cesspooling. Do you want your body to work on it’s own waste? Would you let your car run on old, sludgy oil?? Would you kick a puppy????
Majorly your vertebrae discs are made up heavily of water. Back problems? Start hydrating a ton. Your vertebrae discs are like rubber bands. What happens when rubber bands are left out and not cared for? They brittle up and snap like a g-string on a hippo. And this is what happens often to people who are experiencing compressed discs. As we get older, we already start loosing substance from our spinal discs. Why would you shorten their lifetime by drying them out prematurely? Do you want to look like the hunched over old person who looks small because their spines are getting shorter? Or do you want to look like the action stars of the 80’s today. Because I mean, Arnold, Sylvester, and Bruce are still a lot more appealing than most of the action stars today. And I bet they hydrate like beasts.
So back to it: how much water should you drink a day? TAKE YOUR BODY WEIGHT AND DIVIDE IT BY 2. That’s how many ounces of water you should drink a day. SIMPLE!
I did all that build up for such a simple answer but the problem is so much more complicated. The first step is putting the water in your body. I’m going to applaud that greatly because your body really needs it.
Next we’re going to talk about upgrading your water supply, but that will come in the future...
Greetings everyone and welcome to Blog #4 of Wildcard Wednesday on Notably Notable! I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day holiday and I would like to take a quick moment to thank those men and women who took the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. It is in their honor that we live, breathe, and represent the United States of America by using our freedoms to change the world for the greater good.
I know that I've had been posting on a weekly basis recently, but that's kind of what happens when my schedule lines up nicely and I have some time on my hands between both of my jobs. Let's also add in the fact that there's so much to write about for Wildcard Wednesday, I'll probably never run out of topics.
Before I get to my main topic about the 1-and-Done controversy between the NBA and the NCAA, I would like to recap a couple of things that I did this past Memorial Day holiday:
Disneyland's Diamond Celebration
Roxanne and I were planning on attending the 24-hour Disney Day on the back end of the celebration. However, by the time I got off work at 2:30PM we already saw on Twitter that Disneyland reached full capacity and ended up letting people in around 2:30AM. Roxanne even had friends waiting for almost 5 hours just to get in at 2:30AM. That probably would've been us if we left San Diego around 3-3:30. Anyways...we ditched our Friday plans and ended up going to Disneyland on Sunday. We had a blast and enjoyed the new Paint the Night Parade as well as the Disneyland Forever fireworks show. We took our seats on Main Street around 4:30PM and waited the 4 hours, but it was totally worth it.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Some people don't like referring to Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews because they can sometimes be a little bias. Trust me when I say this...I was on the edge of my seat more for this movie than I was for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now, don't get me wrong, Age of Ultron was entertaining, but Mad Max: Fury Road took the action to a whole other level of intensity with "I don't even know what's going on, but OH MY GOD WATCH OUT!" kind of feelings. What more can I say.
NCAA-NBA 1-AND-DONE CONTROVERSY
A lot has come up the past couple of years when it comes to the NBA's draft eligibility and the rules set for up-and-coming NCAA players. Everyone has their own spin on it. I haven't read their opinions because I don't want to skew my own views. For those who aren't caught up in sports, basically the NBA set a rule in 2005 that set an age limit at 19 for players to be eligible to enter the NBA. There are some outliers for this situation, but that is the basic age limit. In addition to this, a player must be "one year out of high school". Hence, the the 1-and-done. The reason why the NBA created this rule was because there was an influx of players coming out of high school showing little to no experience that they can play on the professional level.
Here are some reason why I DO NOT LIKE 1-and-done's to enter the NBA draft:
These players do not complete their education
These players do not have experience playing on the professional level
As players come in and out of college, NCAA coaches are forced to change their system as different line-ups appear
You'll see these reasons appear throughout the rest of this blog when I show my proposal on how to change things up.
First, I would like to point out that the NCAA is money-making machine and is making billions of dollars off these college athletes through TV deals and merchandise from basketball, to football, to volleyball, to softball, and even to lacrosse. Yet, these players do not see a percent of that. Yes, they are most likely receiving an athletic scholarship, but it's only fair for the players to receive a lump sum of that money. How can we change that? Here's my proposal:
A player will decide if he/she wants to pursue their degree. If they do want to pursue their degree, they will receive their 4-year academic scholarship as normal. However, if a player decides to be a player full-time, then the school will be obligated to pay that player as if they were a staff member of the college/university. No taking classes, just focusing on playing that sport full-time for the school.
Well, there are a lot of counter-arguments you can bring up like "...sports aren't all year..." or "...it's dumb to possibly have some players playing as students and some playing as 'staff' members...". These are valid arguments, but the point that I'm trying to make with this proposal is to pay the players when they earn it.
Second, let's talk about the whole education aspect of players who go 1-and-done. Let's be real here, if you know that you're a good athlete and you have agents saying that you'll be an automatic 1st round draft pick, why wouldn't you go to the NBA as soon as possible? With this "one year out of high school", players are using this one year to play in college sports to take advantage of the media outlets to showcase their talents. You hear a lot of players saying that they're not thinking about entering the draft because they're focused on the college season you should already know in the back of their minds that they're thinking about shaking hands with Adam Silver when their name is announced on draft day. So, if they're only going to be playing for one year and they know that they're going to be leaving after one year...what do these players even study? Should they even take these classes seriously if they know they're going to make millions of dollars for the NBA? Wouldn't you think it's a complete waste of time for these professors to grade their papers and teach them about philosophy when all they're thinking about is life on the basketball court? Imagine you're John Smith and you're looking sign-up for classes and you are 1 spot short of getting into the class. What if that 1 spot is taken by a college basketball player who has the potential to be the #1 draft pick in next year's draft? Is that player really going to using that knowledge about American History to good use in the NBA? Probably not. But there was also Jane Adams who tried to apply for X University, however admissions already filled up the student body. One of those students is a college freshman who isn't even planning on attending 4-years of college to get his degree when Jane Adams wanted to get her Bachelor's in Biology. I know it took me a while to get to my point, but these are things that we don't really think about when it comes to these college athletes shortening their academic scholarships to pursue their dreams. Do I blame them? No, because that is what they've wanted to do since they were a little kid. But let's also remind these kids that there is life after basketball. Most players play 12-16 years before they hang it up. They retire before they're 40...now what?
What do people like to advise college students before they get their first big-time job? Get an internship. Get that entry-level experience. A college player may seem to dominate in the NCAA, but in the NBA players are faster, stronger, and smarter. Nothing the NCAA can match up with. It's very important to the NBA that they develop their players and prepare them for the professional level. That's why they have their own Development League and I believe utilizing this asset will be key to my next proposal.
If a player wants to avoid attending college after high school with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 3 years in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
If a player decides to cut it short after one year of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 2 years in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
If a player decides to cut it short after 2 years of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 1 year in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
If a player decides to cut it short after 3 years of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are allowed to sign with a team as an undrafted player.
If a player completes their 4-year degree with a desire to play in the NBA, they are allowed to enter the NBA draft.
What does this proposal work on? It focuses on education and a player to gain experience. I truly believe that a player coming out of college requires discipline and hard work in order to play in the NBA. I don't think it's fair for veteran players who have put in their time to lose their spot to a rookie just because a younger player has displayed excellent talent in college. These younger players need to earn their spot. This proposal should also help build on the NBA Development League not just for media attention but to also expand teams by creating more opportunities for players who want to grow and build on their fundamentals as professionals.
One main argument here is about injuries. If a player with major potential happens to injure themselves playing in a D-League game, then what does that to that player's chances to get into the NBA? Fair argument. Can't really say much there because injuries can happen at any moment. All I can say is that if a player really is that good...they'll work their way up. Just like how any normal working class human being.
Well, if you've made it this far through the blog you either jumped right to the last paragraph 'cause you were bored from the meat of the content or my proposals might have interested you in the slightest. Either way I'm glad you're sitting there reading NotablyNotable.com and I hope you're enjoying reading all of our content. That's pretty much all I want to say about this topic. My problems with it and my some-what solutions to said problems. Please leave a comment in the section below your thoughts on how we can change this 1-and-done process.
This holiday weekend, many americans took to the roads for nice little (and hopefully relaxing) getaways; I certainly was no exception. It had felt like ages since the last time I embarked on a weekend getaway and the fact that I had Monday off from work, gave me a great excuse to visit northern California for a few days. Besides a beautifully scenic route up highway 101, northern California is also home to some of my favorite people, my twin niece and nephew!
Having the chance to spend some quality auntie-time with these kiddos (whom I like to call "keeblers") is something that I truly value and cherish. At one point on Saturday, after brunch, my sisters, brother, sister in-law and keeblers decided to take a stroll through one of the quaint San Jose neighborhoods. This part of town is home to many little shoppes, boutiques, eateries, and seems to be a place that many families' like taking strolls through, just like us. We even found an old school candy shoppe full of goodies from the olden days and the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing in the back. While in the cute little shoppe, I got to thinking about what it must have been like, growing up during the years when Chick-O-Sticks and Candy buttons were popular. And then somehow I began to think about the holiday, which brought me to San Jose in the first place-- Memorial Day.
Many think that Memorial Day is a day to honor those who served in our country's armed forces (past and present). But in actuality, Memorial Day is a day in which we remember and honor those military men and women who have fallen in service to our country. While in the candy shoppe, I thought about the many children throughout the years (who might've enjoyed some of the sweets found in this nostalgic candy shoppe) that might've lived through the wars in our nation's history; those same wars that took so many mothers and fathers before their time. It was here that I began to reflect on what this holiday meant to me.
As a Mexican-American, I understand and am grateful that I live a life that is afforded many freedoms because of the struggles endured by many men and women who serve my country. I am reminded that there are men and women who paid the ultimate price so that I could participate in a society where I can work, vote, be independent, and basically be whatever I want to be. So as I sat to put together today's blog post, I stumbled upon this amazing quote from Thomas Campbell that says: The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.
Now, if this doesn't convey the essence of Memorial Day, then I don't know what will! The brave men and women who have served and paid the ultimate price are true examples of bravery and service. It is their actions that have planted a seed of gratitude and indebtedness in many of our hearts; a gratitude grows as each year passes that we are able to enjoy our freedom. This Memorial Day I invite you to take a minute to reflect on the sacrifices paid by a few, so that freedom could be enjoyed by many.
Happy Thursday my little Tinkers! Welcome to my first “official” post for Tinker Thursday :) This week, I wanted to share my experience of baking and assembling a Mother’s Day Rose Bouquet, inspired by the lovely and talented Rosanna Pansino of Nerdy Nummies.
I wanted to do something special and unique for Mother’s Day for all the mother figures in my life (of course, including my amazing and wonderful and beautiful and did I mention amazing mommy), and when I saw this video, I knew I had to give that rose bouquet a try!
Of course, this DIY project did not come without challenges. One of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome was my lack of time and availability to dedicate to this project. In addition to working full-time, I am an evening MBA student, so you can already imagine how scarce my time is in general. Pair that up with final projects and research papers being due the first few weeks in May and, well… You can see where I’m going with this.
The demands of both work and school got the best of me and I essentially gave up on this project before I even got started. It wasn’t until after Mother’s Day Mass where I decided to go ahead and give this project a try. It was the least I could do to show my mom, aunties, and grandmother that I appreciate all their love and support and thank them for raising me and molding me into the woman I am today.
If I thought I didn’t have time to do this project the days leading to Mother’s Day, I definitely did not have a lot of time to start this project hours before our small Mother’s Day gathering at my grandmother’s house. So naturally, I had to take shortcuts in the form of boxed cake mix and ready-made/colored icing. Use your favorite cake recipe and icing mix if you have the time to do so. Personally, I think homemade is always the way to go :)
Side note: Luckily, I live near a shopping complex that houses both a Target and Michaels, so I was able to save time in purchasing all my items. Take advantage of the mobile coupons from Michaels! If you’re buying multiple items, see if you can ask a friend or loved one to come with you so they can make a purchase as well. Utilize all the ways you can save money!
-What You'll Need-
For the cupcakes:
Boxed Cake Mix and the ingredients needed to prepare (You can’t go wrong with Funfetti) -OR- Your favorite cake recipe
Icing
Food coloring (Whatever you want the color of your roses to be)
Prepare the cake mix according to the instructions on the box. Preheat the oven to the recommended settings and bake for the recommended amount of time.
While you’re waiting for your cupcakes to bake, go ahead and start arranging your flower pot by placing empty cupcake liners (I used the other colors that came in the set I purchased) around the styrofoam ball and sticking a toothpick in, leaving about half or one-third of the toothpick sticking out. I tried to keep them about a half-inch to an inch apart, but honestly, just see what looks right. There is really no “right” or “wrong” during this step. Just be sure to leave enough space for you to place tissue paper in between.
The most difficult part of this project was getting the tissue paper to stay put! I don’t know how Ro did it, she made it seem so effortless (but then again, don’t all YouTubers? haha). I cut them into small squares, just like the video shows, but I just struggled. Every time I felt as if the tissue paper was secure, it would somehow warp and fall off the styrofoam ball.
Anyway, this is how mine turned out after a few different arrangements.
Remember to let your cupcakes cool before you start putting icing on them! This is probably the number one mistake people make when trying to replicate a YouTube video or Pinterest post. The warmth of the cupcake will obviously melt the icing, causing everything to look like a big, goopy mess. I know, I know, you’ve come this far, and you’re short on time! Trust me, this rest period is crucial. I usually clean up my mess during this rest period. It keeps my hands busy and my momentum going.
Once your cupcakes have cooled, you can start to create the rose designs with your icing. I neglected to photograph this part of the process, but the video has a very in-depth tutorial on how to get that perfect petal-like finish.
My roses did not turn out as beautiful as Ro’s, but I think I did a pretty decent job. What do you think? :)
You’re going to hate me for saying this, but once you’ve completed your beautiful cupcake works of art, you have to let your cupcakes cool down in the fridge for a while. I know! I keep making you wait! Allowing the cupcakes to cool in the fridge will help solidify your rose design, not to mention make it easier to stab the bottom of them with those toothpicks you so thoughtfully laid out. No one wants a slumping rose in their beautiful bouquet. I recommend leaving them in there for at least 15-20 minutes, more if you can afford to.
All right, now comes the fun part: putting your masterpiece together! Remove the cupcake liner placeholders and carefully place your cupcake roses in their place. If you have extra hands in the room, they can hold the flowerpot in place while you work your magic.
And there you have it! A wonderful cupcake rose bouquet! Mine is definitely not perfect, but I was happy that I put my doubts and fears aside and just tried. All my family members loved seeing the bouquet, so much they did not want to eat it! I eventually convinced them to enjoy the cupcakes (after a million photos and picture messages, of course), and we had a happy Mother’s Day, indeed.
Let me know if you decide to give this project a try! I know it’s not my original project, but I would still want to see and hear about your experiences!
Level of Difficulty: 7/10; mainly due to the assembling of the bouquet and how tedious it is
What I would do different next time: Don’t put it off until the last minute :) You can prep everything in this tutorial pretty well in advanced, and leave the final assembly to the day of.
Would I attempt this project again? Definitely! It is such a cute and thoughtful gift!
That's it for this week's Tinker Thursday! Have any projects you would like for me to try? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll make sure to document my experience just for you. Thank you so much for reading my post. You are a beautiful baby unicorn. I'll be back in two weeks with another fun project!
Welcome everyone and thank you for stopping by for Blog #3 of Wildcard Wednesday. Since last week's blog was extensive and contained multiple topics, I figured I would go complete opposite and be quick and straight to the point. Today's topic: Big Hero 6 with a little Frozen rant. Please note that as a Cast Member: All content represent my views/opinions and are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company. I was on Twitter yesterday and I saw @Forbes tweet the following:
"Disney sold $1 billion in Frozen-licensed merchandise last year (link)"
Which isn't very surprising because Frozen was released November 2013 and started building momentum during the beginning of 2014. What does surprise me is that Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has mentioned that Frozen is considered to be one of Disney's top 5 properties...after less than 2 years. With the spotlight all over Frozen, Big Hero 6 quietly became one of Disney's biggest box-office hits. Oh, it also won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but who cares about that when Cinderella was featuring an all-new Frozen short right? I don't recall Paperman or Feast getting merchandise, but Disney was quick to design merchandise for Frozen Fever. I've seen more merchandise for Frozen Fever than Big Hero 6. That's just sad. Who had the chance to meet Baymax and Hiro Hamada? Not many. If I knew that Disney was only going to keep their meet n' greet for less than 3 months, then I would've stayed in that 2-hour line on that December day. How many of you got to meet Anna and Elsa? Probably a good amount of you because Disney has had a special Frozen Fun extravaganza in Disney's California Adventure since January 7, 2015. There was so much marketing for this, it pretty much eliminated any signs of Big Hero 6. Let me remind you that BH6 was released the first week of November. After 2 months, Baymax and Hiro were pulled from Tomorrowland and Arendelle took over DCA.
I remember how disappointed I was as a guest when I visited Animation Academy and they only offered to draw Olaf. Their headline being "Do you want to draw a snowman?" No, I wanted to draw BAYMAX! Frozen was 14 months ago. Big Hero 6 was 3 months ago.
In my honest opinion, I would've preferred a re-creation of San Fransokyo instead of Arendelle. Don't get me wrong, what Disney did in a short span of time to design the snow play area and the meet n' greet spots for Anna, Elsa, and Olaf is impressive. It makes ZERO sense for Arendelle to have a club/dance scene with alcohol. That's not magical at all. I have some other opinions on the Frozen Fun extravaganza, but I don't want to drag this post along. I'm glad Frozen Fun will be over after May 21st. Sorry, not sorry. Disney has milked out as much as they could from their Frozen franchise and unfortunately Big Hero 6 will always live under the shadows. Why? There are a couple of reasons:
Disney underestimated the amount of praise and popularity Big Hero 6 was going to receive.
Disney had a lot on its production plate for 2015: Cinderella in March, Age of Ultron and Tomorrowland in May, Inside Out in June, Ant-Man in July, The Good Dinosaur in November, and Star Wars in December.
Look at that line-up. No wonder Disney wasn't able to market and produce merchandise for Big Hero 6. They have 2 Pixar productions, their flagship Marvel film, and the beginning of another Star Wars trilogy to budget for in 2015. On the bright side, a recent report has claimed that Stan Lee confirmed a Big Hero 7 sequel. (link) I'm really hoping that this is true because the Marvel and Disney Animation Studio team deserve it. Until then, Baymax will be waiting in his docking station charging awaiting for the call to suit up.
Where our favorite celebrities gather to celebrate music, something we all share a love for.
Where Niall gives a thank you speech only for Liam to chime in at the end and give credit to their brother, Zayn. So presh, I actually died.
Now, while the whole idea of the award show is to pay tribute to artists and their music, we all know the kinds of lengths attendees went to to choose the "perfect outfit" for the Billboard Music Awards.
So let's talk fashion.
Honestly, I was really into the simplicity some people chose to sport on the red carpet. For example, Meghan Trainor. Her Badgley Mischka emerald green sequined dress had me so pleased, I couldn't get enough. When her performance with John Legend came around, she added a black top over her dress, giving the illusion that she was sporting a cropped sweater with a beautiful emerald green sequined skirt.
Then we have Jennifer Lopez, who I honestly don't think will ever age the rest of her life. She looked gorgeous, no surprise there. I love how she rocked a Charbel Zoe dress with mesh right in the good-good area, I know you know what I mean, and she STILL made it look classy and elegant. You go J-Lo.
Now the fashion police inside me wants to come out to play. Hailee Steinfeld, star of Pitch Perfect 2. Great girl, I was pleased with her performance in the movie. So pleased, I saw it twice. While her voice is very pretty and nice to listen to, I was a little disappointed in her outfit. Wearing a Givenchy dress, you would think it would be amazing and I think it could have been amazing if she ditched the black crew socks, the belt and chose a different hairstyle. Weird neckline too. Still love you, girl.
Sooo, I gotta get to class now. But I look forward to discussing more fashion with you lovelies soon!
You’re going to go to the gym. Do a shitton of cardio. Lift a little weight. You want to get TONED like a mothaf***a. It’s just common knowledge. Right?
I’m not here to tell you that you won’t lose weight doing that, but realistically, it’s a tough road that you’re going to be trudging through. Actually, you will lose weight, but will you look like an Adonis?? Nah. The body doesn’t really work like that. Human beings were not made to do endless amounts of cardio and crunches so that it can get toned.
In fact, doing tons of cardio can actually burn MUSCLE and force FAT STORAGE. That or it will emaciate you. That’s cute.
There’s a ton a science behind this. But I’m not a scientist. If I were, I’d be credible. What I do know is that I’ve listened to the research of a lot of different people. People who are successful in losing weight, and helping others lose weight. People who help people build muscle and feel the best they ever have.
If you want to look like those people in the fitness magazines, there’s some important steps to take. The biggest one though: UPGRADE YOUR DIET. Not even kidding. It’s one of those things that everyone says. “Cut out fast food, eat salad, low fat!!!!” JK. I eat salad. But my salads are the bomb dot com. I put all kinds of colorful things in them so it’s exciting when I eat it. Like Disney’s World of Color for my mouth hole. But you need to be careful of what you put in you. Whole foods are the best really. And that would be step ONE.
Do yourself a favor: download a food tracker like MyFitnessPal on your smart device. Put in your salad because you’re going to eat one. Because I said so. Hell, you can make your salad a drink by blending that thing in a blender and make it grass juice. Then throw some fruit in it to make it sweet. Then you’re eating greens like a boss.
Oh back to MyFitnessPal, the read the labels of everything else you eat or search it in the MyFitnessPal database and follow the App’s recommendations for Fats, Carbs, and Proteins. Boom. Diet upgrade. You will be forced to pay attention to what you’re putting in your body because you will be making yourself aware of what major nutrients are going in. You are now a diet gangsta.
BE ASSURED: You don’t need to be EXACT with your nutrient goals, but get as F*****G close as possible. I mean, I never hit that shit exactly ever. Maybe once. Like a boss. And if you’re unsure, err on the side of PROTEIN. Because protein makes muscles. And muscles are buff. You like muscles, right?
REMEMBER: this is just a start. But it’s one of the easiest things you can do.
OH SHIT: DRINK A TON OF WATER TOO. Like half your body weight in water. Like SRS. I’ll tell you why soon.
Hello everyone and thanks for stopping for by for Blog #2 of Wildcard Wednesday. The difficult part about having a blog about Disney, sports, and entertainment is that a lot goes on in a week. I went from wanting to talk about the Chargers 2015 draft selections, then I was on a roll to vent my hatred for Floyd "Money" Mayweather and everything he stands for. I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron opening weekend and boy am I willing to spend another $15 to watch it again. Earlier last week I finished watching Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. I was bored so what did I turn to? The Netflix exclusive Marvel's Daredevil. I am now on episode 9, but I am 100% certain I will finish this season by the time you read this (there are only 13 episodes. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT). This past weekend showcased back-to-back-to-back buzzer-beaters by Paul Pierce, Derrick Rose, and LeBron James in the NBA Playoffs. How about that Hack-a-Jordan huh? Now, there's this whole DEFLATE-GATE fiasco.
I'll make a few quick points on everything because I really want to give you thoughts about Floyd Mayweather before I explode.
Chargers 2015 Draft
Melvin Gordan III? Approve 110%. The Chargers made the sacrifice to get their impact guy and it will pay 10-fold when he looks to fill in the big shoes of LaDainian Tomlinson. Chargers added depth and filled in key defensive holes for the remainder of the draft. Others may argue that they should've drafted an offensive lineman, but they really just need to mend together and build chemistry after going through 5 centers and too many different starting o-lines.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Lights, camera, ACTION! Right from the get go. Some critics say that there was "too much" action and not enough time to build the plot. Who cares? It's not like this movie is going to be nominated for an Oscar. Here's your plot. Ultron...bad. Avengers...good. Round 1...FIGHT! And then for the finisher...wait for it...THANOS!
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Season 1
I didn't watch the show on a weekly basis, but seeing how even the Season 2 timeline matched up with Age of Ultron makes me want to watch Season 3 when it ties in with Captain America: Civil War. Season 1 starts off really slow up to the first 5 episodes, then it just gets awesome. I started to appreciation the things that Marvel has done to tie in their TV series to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and then all of a sudden I was engulfed into another perspective that wasn't shown in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Marvel's Daredevil (Netflix Exclusive)
Man this show is dark. Literally and emotionally. But I guess that's reflective of Matthew Murdock and his gift. I'll probably be done with this show by the time you're reading this, but it's 13 episodes of a deep plot stirring in Hell's Kitchen. If you're not subscribed to Netflix, I would definitely say that $7.99 for that first month is worth it just for this show.
2015 NBA Playoffs
After seeing 5 out of 8 first round playoff matchups going 5 games or less we actually have some good playoff basketball for the conference semi-finals. Both #1 seeds are being tested by the #5's. After Derrick Rose banks in a 3-point buzzer beater to keep home-court advantage, LeBron James strikes back with a buzzer beater of his own to make it a 3-game series. What was said after the game just goes to show that David Blatt means nothing to that team. LeBron James is really the coach of that team and he'll do whatever he wants because he's LeBron James. Lastly, here are my quick thoughts about the Hack-A-Whoever shenanigans. There is no need to change the rules. If a team wants to rack up personal fouls and risk being in the bonus early in the quarter that's their problem. If you have a professional basketball player (who is getting paid millions of dollars by the way) that can't shoot more than 50% at the free throw line then that's your problem. How about you put that player in the gym and don't let him leave until he makes 50 in a row.
Deflate-Gate
I could care less about the pressure inside a football. The QB still needs to throw the ball. The receiver still needs to get open and catch the ball. If you're going to care about the pressure inside the ball, then I expect every team will have an inspection for every game. And for the sake of the fans they should show on the screen the pressure of the ball that is being used. If they really want to take it that far, maybe they should regulate how sticky a receivers gloves are because that gives a competitive advantage. Maybe should regulate the length of a players cleats because that also gives a player a competitive edge on the field. It's all bogus. The obvious issue here is the cover-up. If Brady was innocent why didn't he just give up his phone? Even Ted Wells explained that he offered Brady and his agent to be in the same room and Brady's agent would just read the messages off the phone with Wells not putting a finger on the device. If you can't even allow that, then something is obviously fishy.
Floyd "Money" Mayweather: The False Idol
This isn't a bitter Filipino complaining about how "The Fight of the Century" turned out to be a chicken run. This is more about a human being disappointed at another human being's character, lifestyle, and the media attention the latter receives.
I don't use the word hate a lot, but man do I hate Floyd "Money" Mayweather and everything he stands for. He is known to be THE highest paid athlete in the world. More than Kobe Bryant. More than LeBron James. More than Tiger Woods. More than Cristiano Ronaldo. You know what's even crazier? That's all from salary/winnings. $0 in endorsements (http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall). What makes matters worse is that he is undefeated in his sport. Haters can't even prove that he "sucks" because no one has even been able to take him down. Unfortunately, Floyd is also a smart businessman. He has brainwashed groups of confused losers into believing that money is everything; hence "The Money Team". I'll be honest with you...that May 2nd bout between Pacquiao and Mayweather was the first time I've seen Mayweather fight (those slow motion highlight clips don't count). Not only was I pissed about Mayweather's fighting style, but I was pissed about the commentators reaction during and after the fight. Why? Because they are pretty much down on bended knee praising Mayweather like he is some kind of boxing God. All I can hear and read about Mayweather was "...what a smart boxer!", "...look at his technique!", "...this is just another day in the office". Wow, are you kidding me? It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to learn how to run away from a flurry of punches. It wouldn't take me more than a day to learn how to hug my opponent whenever I'm in trouble against the ropes. These analysts/commentators praise this kind of boxing? That doesn't sound like greatness to me. That doesn't sound like "the best ever" to me. It sounds like you can plug in anyone with speed and agility and they could just be like Mayweather. Sorry y'all, I hope you're still with me on this because I have one more point I would like to make. Last year Ray Rice knocked out his wife and after further investigation was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. As of December 1, 2014 Rice has become a free agent and has yet to be signed by an NFL team. Mayweather has been charged not once, not twice, but numerous times of domestic-violence. This guy obviously has a problem. Look at his history and the "punishments" he has received:
2002: 6-month suspension -- 2 days of house arrest -- 48 hours of community service
2004: 12-month jail sentence -- $1,000 fine OR 100 hours of community service
2005: 90-day jail sentence
2010: $3,000 bail
2011: 90-day jail sentence -- 100 hours of community service -- 12-month domestic violence program -- $2,500 fine
Not only do I believe that Mayweather's style of boxing will eventually kill the sport (if it hasn't already), but letting this despicable human-being continue to represent the sport sickens me. I imagine that the only reason why WBO and other boxing organizations haven't banned Mayweather from the sport (just like how Adam Silver did to Donald Sterling) is because they crave the amount of amount of money Mayweather brings each and every time he steps into the ring.
It's disappointing that businesses care more about the $$$ than the image that they present to fans or even aspiring young boxers. It's disappointing that God has "blessed" this man with a $200 million paycheck after the May 2nd hug-fest. It's disappointing that the poor will put more value on $5 while this man will continue to eat $1,000 meals or even take a picture of himself with stacks of money on his bed asking his followers for a caption.
Sigh...
Give this man some humble juice. He might need a gold-plated goblet with 20-carot diamonds sprinkled all over it in order to drink it though.
"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." - Unkown
The biggest failure is the one you don't make. Human beings learn from trial and error. I'm not talking about school. I mean you could fail at school and that would suck. And then you would have bad grades, so you kinda want to try to mitigate that by studying.
No, I'm talking about doing things actively. Like interacting with people. You never know how to interact with people unless you start interacting with them. Learning how to communicate in more than just words. In body language and vocal inflections and all that jazz which you can only get through interpersonal communication. The kind of skill that you can only attain by practice and which only will help you make the social stud or studette.
I'm talking about going to the gym and going in with the intent to wreck a personal record and coming up short. Then what do you do? Train to be able to go past that personal record. Then go after the next one. Set yourself up to win. When you fail, it's only a temporary set back. Failures are temporary. Your victories will last. Either way, they help push you to do more. To go farther.
But none of this will happen unless you say, "I'm going to do that thing." "I'm going to try that." No one ever learned a new language by not trying to speak it. No one ever bench pressed 500 lbs by only staring at the weight. No one ever ran a marathon by being watching the runners. No one ever got the person of their dreams by staring at them from across the room.
It takes a conscious decision to say, "I'm going to try." And the goal is to remain strong in your failures and show yourself that life won't end because you choked when you were asking out the hottie at the bar. You'll push past. And get the next hottie. Because you'll never succeed at something unless you try to do it first.
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is FURY. Brian FURY. While this may seem silly, and a few may recognize the video game origins of this name, The nickname was given to me in college by my best friend. It has since stuck.
I’m coming to you today mainly to introduce myself and explain what I’m doing here. I was asked to be part of this blog collaborative because of my unique perspective on things. But actually I’m here to talk about fitness things. And not fitness things. Like my hair. But fitness things like how I lost 40lbs. Or how to stay motivated when it seems like all the hard work you do doesn’t pay off. But really it does, you just can’t see it because we are our own harshest critics.
In the following weeks, I will be bringing you recipes, workouts, ideas, motivation, and hopefully smiles and merriment. To round out the experience some of these will be linked to videos or other resources that can help better your understanding of what I am doing.
Hello, everyone! I hope you have all had the chance to meet Monica, Sharmaine, and Jayme by now. If you haven’t, please click their names and visit their Introductory Week Posts! You’ll get the chance to meet Brian tomorrow, but for now, it’s my time to shine.
My name is Rox, and I would like to be the first to welcome you to Tinker Thursday.
Merriam-Webster online defines the word “tinker” as “to work in the manner of a tinker; especially : to repair, adjust, or work with something in an unskilled or experimental manner : fiddle”
Now, if that doesn’t describe me perfectly, I don’t know what will.
Aside from being unskilled and experimental, I’m a pretty bland person. I work and I’m pursuing my MBA. I enjoy binge watching shows and YouTube videos in my spare (albeit rare) time. I often find myself drawing inspiration from everything around me, and I particularly enjoy baking sweet treats.
My blog posts will consist of DIY Projects. If you know me personally, you know I’m all about experimenting with activities revolving around arts & crafts, baking, makeup, styling, building IKEA furniture, etc.
I know that is a broad range of possible topics to cover, but as long as you can “Do-it-Yourself”, it’s fair game for Tinker Thursday.
My purpose in this collaborative is to celebrate creativity and not being afraid to try out new things. We shouldn’t hesitate to begin a new project or journey in fear of failure, or wear a certain item of clothing just because we don’t think it will look nice. You never know how awesome something could be if you never give it a chance.
I hope you enjoy the adventures all five of us are about to embark on. It’s been a very… very long project in the making, and I’m so happy and so blessed to see it finally come to life.
We hope to provide you some light entertainment at the very least.
Greetings everyone and welcome to the Wildcard Wednesday edition of Notably Notable. I think a little introduction of myself will help set an outline for what Wildcard Wednesday's are going to be about. My name is Jayme Ross Eva and I am a 24-year old Filipino-American from San Diego, CA. I graduated from the University of San Diego (...and no I didn't spell UCSD wrong...they're different universities) with a BS/BA in Mechanical Engineering in May 2012 with aspirations to become a Walt Disney Imagineer. Shortly after graduation I participated in the Fall 2012 Disney College Program from June 2012 to January 2013 as a Store Operations Host. Now I am currently a full-time Maintenance Mechanic at AQUATICA San Diego (SeaWorld's Water Park) and I have been been a Disney Store Cast Member since August 2013. On my free-time I am an assistant coach for NFL Flag San Diego where I occasionally submit game highlights.
As you can see, I have a little bit of a Disney background and that is actually going to be one of the few topics I will be talking about on Wildcard Wednesdays. Since I didn't state it before, I will state it now and probably every time I post something Disney related:
Please note that as a Cast Member: All content represent my views/opinions and are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.
There is always news surrounding the world of Disney so I will spread my opinions on some trending stories that are Disney-related. I might even share some Cast Member experiences and "confessions".
Next on my list of things that I would like to talk about on Wildcard Wednesdays is going to be about sports. I know "sports" can be very vague, but that is kind of the reason why we have it under Wildcard Wednesdays. I follow XTRA Sports 1360 here in San Diego and about 90% of the time I'm watching ESPN or some other sports-related activity. Why? To me, watching sports is like how other people watching their favorite reality show. However, in my opinion, sports is one true reality show. It's the one thing that you can watch that is unscripted and the emotions are real (besides all that flopping that goes on). There may be some that would like to argue that games are fixed and there's a conspiracy for every controversial call, but that's a topic for another day. There are so many things we can talk about sports, but I will specifically focus on the major sports: football, basketball, and baseball. Sorry Soccer (futbol) fans. I played soccer for 8 years when I was in grade school, but I just don't follow it. I would also like to add that I follow the San Diego Chargers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the San Diego Padres. A good amount of sports recap will feature those 3 teams, but I will also cover other trending/controversial topics that are surrounding the world of sports.
The last topic that will be covered on Wildcard Wednesdays will be "Entertainment". Yes, another vague topic, but what I had in mind was that I would be covering newly released movies and reviewing some TV shows that I'm currently watching right now. The movie lineup for Summer 2015 looks pretty exciting with Avengers: Age of Ultron leading it off. I normally don't watch movies opening weekend just to avoid the huge crows, but hopefully I can put up an afterthoughts post on Avengers 2 in the next couple of weeks. Like many other people I don't like waiting week-to-week for shows. I'm more of a binge-watcher; however the only 2 shows that I keep up with weekly are the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.
And there you have it. A little introduction of Wildcard Wednesdays. I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am. Now, this past weekend was a huge weekend for Wildcard Wednesdays, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft, NHL Playoffs, Kentucky Derby, and MLB. My focus for Blog #2 will be on the Chargers 2015 draft selections.
First of all, I would like to say hello and thank you for checking out Notably Notable! It means a lot to the team for you to be hanging out on the blog!
I think it's probably a good idea to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about who I am since you will be spending part of your Tuesday with me! I'm Sharmaine, it is very nice to meet you :) I live in Washington State, the beautiful Pacific Northwest to be exact. I'm 20 years old and wrapping up my second year of university. With that being said, I'm a Communication Studies major/Journalism - Public Relations minor and I plan to be an event coordinator someday.
In my spare time you can find me lost in the world of fashion and beauty, two of my passions in life. It is true to my nature to keep up with the latest trends, test the boundaries of my own fashion choices and as any fashion blogger would describe themselves, a total shopaholic. Don't worry, I know what you might be thinking, but I (most of the time) know when to put my foot down. You gotta do what you gotta do to have a good wardrobe, am I right?
And this is what Trendy Tuesdays will be all about! I'll tell you about all the things I'm loving, what I'm not loving, what I think is "in" and what needs to be thrown into the fashion trash forever!
As a normal human being, I will be the first to say that I'm not perfect. There will be times where I'll be swimming in homework, or late nights studying for exams or crying over them, whichever comes first to be completely honest, but I'm confident that this will be my outlet from all the stress of life, and I can't wait to talk about fashion and makeup AND One Direction with you ;)
Again, thank you for taking the time to check us out! Enjoy your week and I'll see you next Tuesday!
...I work in an office with lots of awesome people. In my particular area of the office, I have made something of a reputation for myself. See, I have this whiteboard up on a wall. and for the last three years, since I've been in this office, I have used this board to post great quotes on many different topics; and when co-workers and visitors want to see some wise words, they come to my area! My name is Monica, and I love a good quote. I don't particularly fancy myself the philosophical type. But I do believe a great quote has the ability to communicate something deeper than plain language can do. More than that, great quotes can make us feel all kinds of emotions, from inspired, to upset... and everything in between. So that's what I'm hoping to bring to you on Mondays: a little dose of wise words, from wise guys (and gals), which will hopefully provide for some motivation to kick-start your week! Just a little more background about me: I am 32 years young and currently reside in America's Finest City: San Diego. Other than great quotes, I enjoy great conversations with friends, trying new breweries or coffee shops (San Diego has some great choices!), listening to live music or spending time at the beach. Originally from Los Angeles, I can to San Diego in 2009 for grad school and fell in love with the city. There truly is something here for everyone. Oh, and I come from a big ol' Mexican family!They drive me bananas, but I love them and wouldn't have it any other way! I was asked to be a part of this blog collaborative and I immediately said no. Well, not no, but rather "what?" Why me? What the heck am I going to blog about?!" Rox (the Tinker Thursday contributor), asked me "well whats your thing?!" Up until this point, I didn't think I had a thing, until I started thinking about some of the things I love. A few coworkers, just so happened to walk into my office and made a comment about enjoying the selection of quotes I use for the board. At that moment, I got a message from Rox about "Motivational Mondays with Monica" and sharing quotes. I thought it was a sign, so here I am. I have never done a blog before, so this is a new adventure for me; come along, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
First, we would like to thank you for somehow stumbling upon our little area of the internet. Feel free to explore and possibly stick around :)
We are a group of five friends who love a lot of different things. We don’t want to get into too much detail; you’ll get the chance to hear from everyone this week (although the tags might give you guys a few hints--told you we're all over the place). Just know that we’re here to share our passions with you, and we hope you enjoy!
We are also aware there’s a Twitter handle and Instagram username that already exists for NotablyNotable. Unfortunately, we did not know about it / failed to check if this name already existed. We only researched if the domain was available.
Just to clear the air, we are not affiliated with the aforementioned social media outlets. Each author has their own individual social media outlets that they will share if they wish :)
Monica will kick off Introductory Week, so swing on by tomorrow for Motivational Monday!
