I just read an article in the Washington Post about parents who micromanage their children through elementary, middle, high school, and even college.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I definitely noticed this. My parents were never the type to “call in” and tell a teacher that I needed extra credit so I could get a good grade, but I had a ton of friends who did. They ended up being the ones who became really needy later on in high school when things weren’t going right. I don’t keep in close contact with a lot of them, but I sure hope they’re not that way in college and beyond.

I also noticed this a lot when I was working at a community pool. There are many parents who hover over their child’s swimming lessons and interrupt the swimming teacher when they want their child to do something else. This is just not cool because it annoys the swimming instructor and prevents them from doing a good job. Furthermore, it probably embarrasses the child for being a “momma’s boy.”

Anyways, just thought I’d post something. Let me know what you all think.

Guest Article by Jon

It’s awesome to be writing again for a website that nobody reads… really I’m thrilled. Anyway here’s my running diary of Friday’s action of the NCAA tournament modeled after the good stuff that Sports Guy used to write before he stopped being funny about a year and a half ago.

I’ll be watching the games alone today as I’m lazy and don’t feel like driving anywhere and my TV sucks so nobody will come here. Yesterday I watched the afternoon games with Ian, who openly pondered why Coach K’s hair length hasn’t changed in the last 20-25 years (we determined he either gets a hair cut every two weeks OR he’s wearing a rug - I’m betting on the former), and I watched the evening games with the young bucks. A few thoughts…

Hey everybody, I will be unable to post for a few days (not that a lack of posting is very surprising). I’m running my first marathon ever on Sunday in Virginia Beach, and my girlfriend and mom will be in town for a while so I’d like to spend some time with them.

Anyways, I hope somebody else posts an article in my absence, but I doubt it. Rock on until I return, friends!

Guest Article by Chris: I thought I’d offer a little insight into my decision process concerning the NCAA basketball tourney.

Rule 1: Don’t pick UConn (or insert your favorite team) to win. Just because, I’ve followed the Huskies all year long means that a) I’ve seen all of their losses and b) know all of their weakness. Now, that I know they are vulnerable to a team with a lot of slashing cutting players (Villanova) and they have trouble scoring at times (Syracuse), I can’t imagine them winning it all. Probably overanalysis. Also, if they win it all, who cares about the bracket?

Rule 2: Don’t pick Duke. Why give yourself a reason to root for them?

Rule 3: Don’t pick bad Big East teams. Yes, Syracuse and Seton Hall that’s you. Just because you beat some people in the Big East tourney, doesn’t mean you won’t get upset in the first round. Go whine somewhere else Jim Boeheim.

Rule 4: Stay away from teams that start with a “K”. Kentucky and Kansas, shudder. Who wants them to win?(I certainly don’t)

I was talking to my girlfriend on the phone tonight, and for some reason we were talking about commuting to work and the time it would take for different commutes.  Well, since the commute to my summer/winter job is pretty far (1 hr, 15 minutes each way), I decided to figure out how much time I would end up wasting in a given year.

Since the commute is 2.5 hrs round trip, or 150 minutes per day, and assuming I work 260 days out of the year (a high estimate), I will spend 39,000 minutes, or 650 hours, or 27.08 days commuting every year.  That is enough time to go on a very, very long vacation, or do many other things.

It would be really great if I could cut my commute in half.  If it only took 1.25 hours each way, I would save over 13 days per year in wasted time!