Game Day Today - Michigan vs. Michigan State

I'm not normally a college football fan. And, I don't follow the schedules or even watch them on television. But, when a particular game comes around every year, I turn into a different person. That game is the Michigan vs. Michigan State game. 

Ironically enough, is today!

I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and grew up in Muskegon. I don't know how or why we/I became a University of Michigan fan, but it's been in my blood since I can remember. 

Living in Florida now, I haven't even been back to Michigan in 34 years, but the connection of this game is what keeps reminding me I am a Michigander. 

According to Greg Stephenson at http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/10/what_tv_channel_time_is_michig.html

You can find the game on ESPN today 2:30 p.m. Central, 3:30 p.m. Eastern

The Series Record between these two teams is Michigan leads 68-34-5

According to Stephenson, what's at stake is this: "The winner becomes the top threat to Ohio State in the Big Ten's East Division and a serious contender for college football's playoff — and yet all that feels secondary. What's at stake this weekend is Michigan State's seven-year dominance of the rivalry it cares about the most, a run of success that is now in serious jeopardy with Jim Harbaugh coaching at Michigan."

According to Bill Connelly from SB Nation "MSU has won six of the last seven against Michigan and still ranks higher than the Wolverines in the polls. But if the numbers are any indication, Michigan has a chance to swiftly create a new narrative."

Of course, my bets are on Michigan. 

The rivalry between the two teams and their fans/students starts long before the game. According to Russell Westerholm, from the University Herald, "The rivalry is coming alive this year with Michigan State ranked seventh overall and shares a lead with Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State for the lead in the Big Ten East at 2-0 in the conference. Michigan State is also 6-0 overall and has been ranked in the AP poll as high as second.

Since losing its opener to Utah, Michigan has held its next two opponents to one touchdown each before shutting out its last three opponents. Michigan State's offense may challenge the Michigan defense the way Utah's did, but Vegas odds makers are favoring the Wolverines at home nonetheless."

This is great news!! The Wolverines are the favorites for this game!! 

So, get your game face on, paint it blue, or just flop on the couch and tune into ESPN. It's going to be one heck of a game.

If you'd like to visit more pages about the University of Michigan try:

http://MGoBlue.com/

Of course their FaceBook page has great pictures and lots of game day information.

Picture courtesy of Michigan Football Photos.

Local Law Firm Supports Teachers of Tampa Bay

The Fernandez Firm recently launched a Facebook Giving Campaign on behalf of the dedicated and hard working public school of teachers of Tampa Bay which you can find in this link: http://www.fernandezfirm.com/florida-personal-injury-blog/help-fernandez-firm/

At the Fernandez Firm, they firmly believe in Florida’s public education system and hope that you will join them in supporting the selfless Tampa Bay educators. For every “Like” they receive on their Facebook page, The Fernandez Firm will contribute $1.00 to local schools to help defray the cost of being a dedicated Tampa-area public school teacher.

August in Florida means the end of another hot summer and “back to school” for students and their families. For many Tampa Bay teachers, the start of the school year means that it is time, once again, to reach into their own pockets for the money needed to equip their classrooms. You may be surprised to learn that each year public school teachers spend, on average, $400 of their own money on school supplies necessary for their students.

At the Fernandez Firm, they  firmly believe in Florida’s public education system and hope that you will join them in supporting our selfless Tampa Bay educators. For every “Like” they  receive on their firm’s Facebook page, The Fernandez Firm will contribute $1.00 to local schools to help defray the cost of being a dedicated Tampa-area public school teacher. “When our students excel, we all benefit,” says attorney Frank F. Fernandez, III. “We consider it our obligation, as responsible members of the Tampa business community, to support public educators in every way possible and are excited to partner with our Facebook friends in doing so.”

Like them on Facebook today and help the Fernandez Firm show Tampa Bay teachers just how much they appreciate their hard-work and sacrifice.

I've already clicked and "liked"  the page, how about you?


Copyright: pressmaster / 123RF Stock Photo

Getting to Know You Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to the Getting to Know You Blog Hop. We have an eclectic choice of bloggers for this hop and it will run from January 29, 2013 to February 1,2013. I’d like to thank all of the participants for joining and committing this time to their blog.

Let’s get started on getting to know me.

Where are you from?

I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a very small town and grew up on Lake Michigan. I stayed in Michigan until I graduated high school and left for warmer parts of the country via the United States Marine Corps.

When and why did you begin writing?

I’ve always been a writer at heart and started reading and writing at age four. I love the written word. I chose a career as a Technical Writer creating computer user manuals and segued into writing novels after I had a life changing experience. A near-death experience that brought into focus what was most important in my life, and that was my goal to become and author.

What books have most influenced your life?

Stephen King’s books resonate with me because I feel like he’s my “unofficial” mentor. I use his books and his style to guide how I write. He can use a few words to trigger an entire world inside a reader’s mind. That’s my goal as well.

What is your favorite book from childhood?

The book “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S.Lewis comes to mind, as well as “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I also like the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

I try to find character names that fit the character description and attitude of the character I develop. I try to make sure all the character names in my books are unique and I don’t overlap or use similar names to confuse my readers.

What’s your favorite fruit?

No question about it. Blueberries. I LOVE them. As a child, I worked the summers as a picker for a Blueberry farm. We would get a dollar a bucket. Best times of my life.

Do you ever wish you had an entirely uncreative job?

Never. Writing is whom I am, how I live, what I breathe. I could not exist if I were not a writer. I tried the corporate route before. It didn’t agree with me.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

My husband. He helps me stay grounded. He’s as close to me as anyone could be and he know all my moods. I also lay all my troubles on God. He’s my rock.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

I learned how to survive by going into the fantasy realm of my mind and make up stories. I was bullied a lot in school and I learned how to switch it off and just go into my mind and be one with my stories.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Stephen King. I’ve even written a blog titled, “EverythingI know about writing I learned by reading Stephen King”. It’s true. And, I believe that every writer worth his salt should have a copy of ON WRITING by Stephen King on their desk or bookshelf.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I’ve recently had two books released. OUTFOR JUSTICE and GOOD INTENTIONS.

OUT FOR JUSTICE: Rookie homicide Detective Karen Sykes is out to prove she is good at her job, finding justice for a darkness in her past through law enforcement. She gets her first chance to shine with a case that hits a little too close to home. Like her younger sister, a four-year-old boy, has been brutally murdered. The case pairs her with Mike Connelly, an attractive crime scene technician, and sparks fly between the two of them. Mike resists the attraction and only adds more emotional conflict to the case.

When her partner becomes the latest victim and ends up in the hospital near death, Karen sets out to find the murderer before he hurts anyone else. Only the case gets trickier when the murder suspect ends up dead, leaving new clues to the real killer. Finding comfort in Mike's support, their relationship heats up, but so does the investigation. The killer has a plan. One that involves a Cat and Mouse game of hide and seek inside the hospital, where her partner struggles for his life. Karen discovers it takes more than catching a killer to make the pain of her past go away. It also takes opening her heart and learning to trust in others.

GOOD INTENTIONS: The tragic story of one woman’s efforts to help a teenage mother. Megan, fourteen and pregnant, needed a mom. Tracy, thirty-nine and already raising a large family, gave her a home. Neither was ready for what happened next.

Tracy Reynolds’ life is not her own. She works the nightshift at the hospital and has three boys, two girls and a husband who works the opposite shift along with a menagerie of rescued pets. Somehow, she and her husband, Tim, have made it work with love, faith, and impeccable ethics.

Adding fourteen-year-old Megan and her newborn son to the mix was supposed to be uncomplicated. The adoption agency made it sound so easy. They painted Megan as a good child who had a rough life. She needed love and understanding and the stability of a respectable home and family. Tracy and Tim fit the bill and were fast tracked through the system and before they knew it trouble landed on their doorstep. Megan.

Megan rejected their family values and resisted from every direction when it came to learning how to live within their family dynamics and taking care of her son. She missed her friends and the people she knew when she worked as a prostitute. Despite court orders and her probation officer’s warnings, Megan secretly reconnected with her old friends and lover. 

The Reynolds’ family spun out of control. Not one would be untouched by Hurricane Megan’s path of destruction.

One link in a strong chain of family dynamics can crumble the entire household.

Deceptions. Infidelity. Drugs. Child abuse. Cancer. Sexual abuse. Home invasion. The Reynolds’ went through it all. Would their family ever be the same?

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write. Write something every day. And, Read. Read every day.Always be willing to learn and grow as a writer. If you’re serious about becoming an author, be serious. Look like an author in the virtual world. Have a website, a blog, a Facebook author page. Join LinkedIn, Twitter, and any other social network community that can benefit you. I recommend Triberr. There you can specialize which communities,“tribes”, you want to join that will be beneficial to you and them.

Thanks,

Thank you for reading a bit about me and I’d like to introduce you to other authors along this hop. Their links are below:

http://tenthchild.com/wordpress/

http://sfemespiral.com/ego/

http://candacegauger.wordpress.com/

http://traceeford.wordpress.com/

http://pacificrimpressblog.wordpress.com/

http://www.notanotherbookreview.blogspot.com/

http://ninjananny.wordpress.com/

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/

http://simplifyandsave.weebly.com/blog-save--simplify.html

http://candysmonsters.com/

Non Sequitur Takes a Poke at Social Networking

I love the comics. I read them every day. Well, almost every day, if I have to be utterly honest. One of my favorites is Non Sequitur.

Wiley Miller, the cartoonist for Non Sequitur has an outrageous sense of humor and sees our world as no one else does absurdities and all.

A few days ago, he jumped into the world of social networking by taking a poke at Facebook.



So, what is social networking? It's the grouping of individuals into specific groups. Huh? Here's a website that can explain it easily. WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING?

Facebook is just one of those social networks. Myspace is another. LinkedIn is another. Those are the top three. And, they're all used for very different reasons by very different people.

I'm going to be VERY basic here. One size does not FIT ALL!!!!

Myspace is used by the younger crowd and the artists groups: authors, muscians, artists, etc.

Facebook is used by slightly older crowd and you still have the artists groups as well as more business people. It's also used by the families and schoolmates looking to reconnect.

LinkedIn is probably the only one that has the majority of business people on it and does nearly all business, no socializing.

I purposely left out the Tweeters mostly because I don't understand them, and I don't exactly know how they fit into a stable social network.

So, enjoy the cartoons and have fun on your social networking site of choice.

E-Reader Future Has Hit the Comics!

E-Readers are here to stay. And, that means e-books are here to stay as well. As much as we boomers would like to protest, using excuses like "but I love the smell of a book" and "there's nothing like holding a book in my hand", we're no longer the target market.

It's a whole new world out there, and like it or not, it's time we embraced it. My husband has dragged me into it. Okay, not literally "dragged" me. More like nudged me in the current electronic world's general direction.

In our family, he was the first to purchase an iPhone. He expounded on all the cool applications and how easy they were to use and how easy they made his life.

Uh huh. I know what you're thinking. How could a phone make his life easier, right? I was thinking the same thing.

But, then he started showing me, because skeptic that I am, I started asking for proof.

Well, I wouldn't believe it at first, but he was right. Some of the applications he had were amazing. He had his e-mail right on his phone - send and receive. And, all of his mail folders were there too! Now that was slick! And they synced with his desktop at home.

Then, there was the Internet application. Safari. Well, that sold me right there. I could surf the Internet from my phone!!

And, don't get me started on the Facebook and MySpace applications that link directly to your pages and profiles so you can access your pages and update them as if you were sitting at your desktop.

Of course, I digress, another great application I downloaded? eReader! I can read books on my iPhone. How sweet is that?