NY State Tournament

The past 2 days, I judged at the new NY State tournament at Brooklyn Tech.  The tournament itself was kind of ehh, but the hanging out part was fun.  I got to see and hang out with a lot of friends who I havent seen in a while--Caitlin, Andy, Andrew, Matt, Mira, Taarini, Lev, Tom and of course Jon, just to name a few

I stayed with Caitlin last night, which was a lot of fun.  Caitlin, Andy and I went out for dinner at Umi Nom, this cute Asian restaurant last night.  Afterward Caitlin and I wandered around Fort Green for dessert, and ended up getting this salty/sweet caramel sundae thing.

Today was a lot more fun, but dull at the same time.  I judged up til semis and didn't squirrel!!! :)

Took me 2 hours to get home though... I"m so done for the night lol

Spring Break in Boston

I went to Boston for a few days, including St. Patrick's Day, during spring break this past week.  I arrived on Wednesday and left on Saturday.  I got to see a lot of good friends who I havent seen in a while, so that was nice!


Wednesday
I left Wednesday after work with Bob (debate friend from West Point) and arrived in Boston around 6:30 PM and headed downtown to see John.  I hadn't seen John since we were in Nassau!  We went out for sushi at this cute little restaurant not too far from the Sheraton.

Thursday - St. Patrick's Day
I was waiting for a while for Bob and Marianna (co-intern at the UN) to arrive...  They both finally arrived around noon.  Marianna was super exhausted when she arrived and 180 from her normal cheery self, so she headed to Connor's place first, while Bob and I wandered around Boston.


We walked around Boston/Downtown and followed the Freedom Trail, which is a red brick road that goes throughout the city hitting the major landmarks.  We stopped at the North End and got cannolis from Mike's Pastry, which were amazing!  We then stopped by this cute little Irish pub/restaurant where I got a green beer and corned beef!  I also learned that GERMAN BEER IS TERRIBLE!!!

 

We then headed back to the hotel, I said my farewells to John and we headed to my friend Connor's apartment.  When Connor finally returned from class we headed out to Newbury Street, however there was nothing going on, so we headed to Faneuil Hall, which was a bit more lively, but nowhere as crazy as it is in NY.  We ended up going to a bar, where I got a green drink - I think it was an appletini?  It was yummy!

When we got back we chilled, and then tried to get a pizza.  Would you believe places close in Boston?  You would think they would have one 24 hour place near a college campus.  After much searching we found a pizza place that would deliver to us.  1.5 hrs later, we finally got our pizza... at 3 AM!

Friday
We hit up Harvard Square and got lunch at this awesome place "Charley's Kitchen" per Erica, Wes and Josh's suggestions.  Despite what Bob and Connor thought, I successfully ate an entire double cheeseburger, which was delicious!  While we were there, Connor and I tried calling a bunch of the mutual Fordham friends we had.  Of course we called none other than... JOHN MUNJOLI!!!  We were lucky enough to have Josh grace us with his presence, and of course he skateboarded over!

We then headed to Long Warf - Boston Harbor, which was very quaint, the headed to the "Top of the Hub" in the Prudential Center.  The place was located on the 52 floor and had a gorgeous view overlooking all of Boston.  After some drinks, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory and met up with none other than JAKE and RYAN!!!  I had not seen Jake since Nats last year, so that was a nice surprise!

We got a ton of awesome cheesecakes - Reeses, Strawberry and Banana Cream.  Jake was the only one to finish both his dinner and his cheesecake!  We then headed to Ryan's where we played some games and celebrated his new job!

Saturday
We went to Joe's Bar and Grille for Brunch where we got mimosas - Connor and Bob's first! :)  Then headed to South Station for the bus home.  We actually made good time and made it in a little under 4 hours!

I got Krispy Kreme donuts!

I had a great time in Boston!!!  Thank you Connor for being such a great host, taking us around and letting us crash at your place and giving up your bed; Jake, Josh and Ryan for coming out and seeing me; Bob and Marianna for making the trip out with me!!!

My First Pageant!!!

Today I tried something new and competed in my first pageant(s)--the Miss Manhattan/NYC/Southeast NYC Pageant and the Miss Metropolitan/Greater Gotham/Liberty Pageant.  It was a "super pageant," two pageants in a row.

The pageant was a lot of fun and definitely not what you see on TV.  The girls were super cool and some of them were really smart and soo sweet!

The pageant was your standard pageant with an interview, swim suit, on stage question and evening gown portion.  I got asked the most obscure and most irrelevant questions.  At the first pageant my question was:

Fill in the rest of this sentence:  "I am most afraid of..."

To which I answered something to the effect of

"I am most afraid of... jumping off buildings because I'm afraid of heights!"

During the second pageant, I was asked

Hoarders has been a huge phenomenon, are you a hoarder or a tosser?

To this I answered something like:

I think it's important to save the important things that have special memories, but the stuff that doesnt... it's gotta go!

I got some laughs with both responses, so I guess that was good! :)

I even made a new friend - Nardeen, who actually won Miss Greater Gotham!

Pageant Interviews!

As part of my New Year Resolutions, I wanted to try new and exciting things, so I am entering some local pageants--Miss Manhattan/NYC/Southeast NYC and Miss Metropolitan/Greater Gotham/Liberty.

The interviews went pretty well... I hope?  The first one went a lot better than the second one. I had them laughing and everything with me.  Although I think they think I do twitter dating.  I mentioned how I met VansJerry on Twitter last night and how he introduced me to pro BMXers.... but I guess I phrased it wrong LOL!  They were just messing with me!  Can't wait til tomorrow!

BMX Night at House of Vans

Tonight was the first ever BMX Night at the House of Vans.  Andrei and I headed down to the event after work today.  The House of Vans was pretty sick, how did I not know this place existed?  It was super cool, there were tons of ramps, quarterpipes and a bowl.  They even had a station set up outside for BBQing food!

 

At the event, I met the guy who I had found out about the event from on Twitter.  Apparently hes somewhat of a big deal and introduced me to SCOTTY CRANMER and DAKOTA ROCHE!!!  OMG Scotty was such a sweetheart and I somehow managed to get his number!!!

Black Knight Invitational

West Point got me a PUPPY!!!!!!!

Only team to follow through and deliver! <3

Rutgers Weekend

This past weekend I was Rutgers, judging at yet another tournament, only this time it was an APDA tournament and it was unpaid.  However, I did get to spend time with some of my favorite people! :)

The tournament was lots of fun, and boy did we party hard on Friday night... that is until the cops came...  All in all it was a good weekend! :)

Weekend in Scarsdale

This past weekend I judged at Scarsdale for their annual HS debate tournament.  I had a great time with Andy and Andrew, especially Friday night!  I also got to see a lot of the awesome Bronx Science team which I LOVE!  You would not believe how many times I got asked "Are you judging at Harvard?" and getting sad faces when I said no.  I feel so loved! :)

1st Article Post!!!

My first article was posted on the UN's website!!!

Check it out: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/social/social-protection.html

Green Bay Packers Win Superbowl XLV

Green Bay Packers win against the Pittsburgh Steelers: 31-25

Half-Time Show was pretty good.  Black Eye Peas performed, followed by a duet of Slash and Fergie "Sweet Child of Mine," Usher singing "Oh My God," and BEP finishing off with "Where is the Love?"

Super Bowl XLV

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Green Bay Packers


Who are you rooting for?

Personally I'm indifferent.

Check out this awesome video from Conan, perhaps the best thing ever!!!

First Day at the UN

Today was my first day at my internship at the UN!

I met a bunch of interns this morning at orientation, surprisingly I was the only local and even more surprisingly, they only American!  How insane is that?

What will I be doing at the you ask?  Well I'll be working in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) under the Communication and Information Management Systems (CIMS).  This entails writing official newsletters, alerts, feature articles, and other things posted directly on their website!  How cool is that?

My supervisor is pretty cool, he took me out for lunch at the caf today, where we talked about Shaun White and the X-Games!

Aside from that I didn't do too much today, just learning about my responsibilities.

Afterwards, however I bumped into a large protest in support of the anti-egyptian government movement.

First Day Back

Today was my first day back to Fordham for the Spring 2011 semester and my last semester of grad school!  It's so surreal - aside from the fact that i was in 95 degree weather just 2 days ago, but that I will officially be entering the real world as an MBA graduate in just a few months.

Today I was supposed to start my law/MBA class, but apparently that doesnt start til Jan 20th, so all of the MBA students showed up for no reason...  Oops...

My other 2 classes were pretty awesome, I think I'm going to like Thursdays!  I have Mr. Saharia for "IT Strategy & Management" followed by Travis Russ for "Communication for Entrepreneurs."  Let's hope the other two will be enjoyable as well.

This is the first semester in my entire Fordham career that I am taking less than 16 credits!

Back from Botswana!!!

The trip to Botswana was tons of fun!

Here are a few of the major highlights:

• Getting in on in the bathroom... by 2 girls
• Rob, Ian and every other boy getting hit on by Frank
• Game Drive & Cultural Tour
• Becoming a Tourist Attraction
• YAKKA PARTY!!! 
• Seeing LIVE animals - Giraffes, Warthogs aka Pumba
• Almost starting a fight between Chris (Ireland) and La Verne (US)
• Witnessing the aftermath of a bus blowing up
• Getting American on stage dancing to "Down" 
• Peter accidentally eating a bug
• And of course all the boys!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

HAPPY 2011 FROM GABORONE, BOSWANA!!!