Platinum Award

Okay, so I completely made up the name of this post, but that is how this left me feeling. So here is why:

Over the summer I interned for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. Part of what I did there was set up a program for high school aged girls to learn about the process of running a business. The program was run this past weekend, and so I attended to see how it turned out and to help mentor the girls. First, the program was run quite smoothly. The guest speakers were great, right on key for high schoolers. Then there is the actual effect it had on myself and the girls. They were amazing. I saw them progress from strangers to companies, to team members to friends. That was certainly great to see. More though, they inspired me. They are all very hard workers, compassionate, and just wonderful individuals. They have bright futures ahead of them. It really touched me to be able to help them learn and become better individuals. What's more is how they expressed their appreciation. Their thank you's were heart felt. I truly felt as if my time spent with them this weekend had an impact. so while there might not really be such a thing as a Platinum Award, I left the weekend feeling as if I had achieved Platinum Status. I don't need a tangible award, plaque or recognition. I know that I now have the Platinum Award.

A Little Piece of Heaven Part 1

So a while ago I got a craving for a cupcake and went in search of the BEST cupcake around. This past Sunday (2/13) I went to Sweet Cupcakes in Boston. It reminded me of that quest, so I thought I would share my review. I went with a friend and we split 3 cupcakes. We tried: Chocolate Raspberry, Boston Cream Pie, and Hot Cocoa (hint, I LOVE chocolate!!!) So here's what I thought:

1. Chocolate Raspberry
• Delightfully light raspberry flavor, though it could have come on a bit stronger. Over all, it was a good cupcake, but the most memorable part was wanting more raspberry. Overall: 3.5 out of 5
2. Boston Cream Pie
• It essentially tasted like Boston Cream Pie should. The cake was a little bit thick, though, and the chocolate was hard to get my fork through. Overall: 3 out of 5 for good flavor and okay texture.
3. Hot Cocoa
1. I was particularly looking forward to this one just because of my love of hot chocolate. It was a good cupcake, don't get me wrong, but I really didn't get the Hot Cocoa part of it. Overall: 3 out of 5.

I was under-impressed; I felt as if these cupcakes could fairly easily be made at home (though it would take baking skill, but I know plenty of people with that). I did not think that the flavors were outstanding enough to justify the price, though with so many choices, I would be willing to go back with a friend. Certainly not a must return to, though. But go ahead and give it a try yourself. They have many more flavors.

And here is their website:

http://www.sweetcupcakes.com/

I enjoy the music, though I wish it would continue throughout the site.

Trader Joe's

Seemingly everyone's favorite these days is Trader Joe's. I'll admit it, I do love their mango especially. What's amazing is that they are able to offer so many great deals. It makes sense that the items you can get the best deal on are those that ship well, operationally speaking. I don't often go grocery shopping, as I am a college student. This is the type of store I want to shop at, though. Prices fit for a budget. Quality goods. Sustainable and world friendly (and I do LOVE salmon :) ) So I found this article interesting.
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/what-foods-to-buy-and-what-to-skip-at-trader-joe-s-2450975/

Pirates of the Caribbean

Those movies do fairly well depicting the habits of pirates. I mean, the pirates might not sail out of Tortuga, they might not be on a quest for gold, and they might not be cursed, but they exist. Not only that, but the pirates would clearly have advanced since then so it makes sense that they are not identical. They get a larger and larger bounty as time passes, and get smarter about how they are able to get their prize.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/09/AR2011020901421.html

The Generation of Encouraged Entitlement

My generation, Generation Y, the Millenials. Call us what you want, but you know who we are. I personally prefer the term 90s kids. We are the generation of always getting praised, as the article explains. But this isn't all bad. If someone does well at something, he or she deserves to be told this. I will grant the older generations the fact that they are right that we are overpraised. But perhaps we need a middle ground. If we stop handing out praise for everyday accomplishments and reserve the praise for the achievements that go beyond expectations. This would still allow people to get praise more often than when they score their firm $1million, but wouldn't coddle them into believing that they need to be praised for showing up on time.

http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.babson.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1257499861&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1221572276&clientId=5013

Saving the Tigers

Malaysia is one of just 13 countries left with tigers. The population of wild tigers is only about 3% of what it was just 100 years ago. Malaysia, along with the other 12 countries with wild tigers, headed by Russia's Vladimir Putin, is taking steps to protect the tigers. 

Malaysia is taking steps towards protecting its environment, as well as the environment of the world. I broadly say "environment" because every living and non living thing is part of the world's environment. It is essential to preserve our environment in order for there to be continued life on Earth.

The article I found on CNN.com (the first one I posted here) is about the action taken to protect the tigers. The other two, also from CNN are background stories from November.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/26/paper-proper-land-management-could-triple-asian-tiger-population/?iref=allsearch

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/11/19/tiger.summit/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/16/hunters-nabbed-with-slain-endangered-siberian-tiger/

I think it is wrong that poachers hunt down tigers. They are majestic animals and have been my favorite for a long time. I don't think the maximum sentencing of 3 years/$20,000 is sufficient. I believe poachers should be prosecuted as harshly as murderers.

Mosquito Execution

The article I found for the week 1/23-1/29 is about a health concern for Malaysia. In December and early January there was an experiment done on mosquitoes. 6000 mosquitoes were released into a controlled area of Malaysia to reduce the number of mosquitoes that were bred over the time period. The purpose of this experiment is to try to find a more effective manner by which to eliminate as many mosquitoes as possible. The reasoning for getting rid of the mosquitoes goes beyond just their annoying tendency, however. They pose a serious health risk as they are active all year round and have been spreading an increasing amount of Dengue Fever in recent years. There are arguments against the experiment, however, citing environmental and potentially worse health effects. It is natural that there would be objections to this experiment. One specific example that struck me was the idea of a mutant mosquito (now, I picture a GIANT killer mosquito, although I’m sure that’s not what is being referred to here…) So long as the proper research has been done in advance, anything to get rid of the pesky little things is welcome to me anytime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012507360.html

The other article I read for the week of 1/23-1/29 is interesting due to the fact that it is about inspiring the youth of Malaysia. One of the things I really am interested in is about this trip, and simply in general as well, is education for youths. I think it is vitally important that children be introduced to reading at a young age. Far too often reading is left to the school system to teach and school systems aren’t typically well equipped to best teach literacy because the children are learning at such different rates. But anyways, I was pleased to see the Malaysian government taking an active role in its education system by encouraging creativity.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/21/nation/20110121205937&sec=nation

Religious Tolerance in Malaysia

It is interesting to me that while Malaysia is considered a tolerant nation it has banned an entire sect of a religion. To me this is not religious tolerance. They do have their reasons for the intolerance though. I would want to look back into their history of religious tolerance and the acts of Shiites. What I would hope to gain from doing so is more insight as to the reason behind banning the Shiites, whether it is based off of past cases of disturbances or if it is a preemptive precautionary measure. I also noticed that Judaism was not mentioned. I was not sure if this was due to a non-existent Jewish presence or if the Jews are also persecuted there. So I did my research. There are only about 100 Jews in Malaysia according to Wikipedia. The CIA World Fact Book reports that 2.3% of the population declares its religion as “other” “unknown” or “none” as of the 2000 census (which I don’t quite know how a person could not know his or her religion, but apparently it is an option). I feel like this Malaysia course is really going to open my eyes to the state of the world. It is one thing to read about oppression, third world, ethnic disputes, etc. but it will be quite the drastically different experience to be in Malaysia having grown up here in New England.

So here’s the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011401126.html

Well, while I was on the CIA WFB website I figured I would read some more about Malaysia. The education life of a child is expected to last 13 years with males at 12 years and females at 13 years. I found that intriguing. I would expect it to be the other way around, so props to Malaysia for that. I also found that while at birth a child is more likely to be male, an elderly person is more likely to be female (females have a longer life expectancy by 6 years!). Finally, only 5.1% of the population is below the poverty, which is less than half of what we have here in the U.S. That is an impressive figure and quite unexpected.

It cold and snowy here with a storm about twice a week. I love it, but a lot of people are complaining (especially those from Cali or Florida)

To begin with...

Per request of RaneeC a couple of months ago I am blogging. I am starting with opinions on articles I have to read for a couple of my classes. So there will be a good amount of current events on here, especially relating to Malaysia, as I will be going there in March.

I am incredibly excited for my trip to Malaysia. I have NEVER seen the Pacific Ocean, been to Asia, or been west of the Mississippi. I am looking forward to spending a little over a week there, as well as getting to reconnect with my dear friend Sunnie who I have not seen since she went home to Malaysia in January of 2008.