Many Hearts Find One Home

This weekend (Feb. 16th - 18th) is Penn State's annual 48-hour Dance Marathon, aka THON. The theme this year is Many Hearts, One Home. 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of THON. It is also the first year it is being held in the Bryce Jordan Center to accommodate the growing number of participants and families. For the last several years, it had been held in the smaller campus venue, Rec Hall. The money raised goes to the Four Diamonds Fund, benefiting Penn State Children's Hospital at Hershey Medical Center.

I was extremely fortunate to be a part of THON '99 as a member of the CCSG THON Committee. I worked in communications with the dancers of the University's 19 Commonwealth campuses.

Above is a picture of me at the Four Diamonds Carnival in November 1998. Standing in front of me is Tanner, who was diagnosed with Cancer. Our committee sponsored his family for THON through the Adopt-A-Family program. The carnival was when we got to meet Tanner, his brothers, and their mother for the first time. All the work and time that went into preparing for THON weekend was well worth it.

When THON weekend finally came, each committee member had shifts to cover on the floor, supporting the dancers and having fun with the kids. Nothing could prepare you for the feeling of being on the floor...no matter how many people tell you about it ahead of time. It's just one of those things you have to do for yourself. If I could give you three words to sum up what it's like being on the floor (especially during Family Hour), they'd be FUN, EMOTIONAL, INSPIRATIONAL. THON was an absolutely amazing experience...one that I will never forget.

You can support THON by making a donation. To see what THON is all about, you can view tons of pictures and the live webcast.

THON -- For the Kids...Go State! Beat Cancer!

The Good and The Bad

Penn State Takes Orange Bowl Victory

What can I say? I'm proud to say PSU is my alma mater. I stayed up for the entire game last night...it was impossible to sleep because I was so riled up from all the excitement. I'm not going to recap all the highlights for 2 reasons: 1-I am not known to be a sports whiz, and 2-There are many sports writers out there that have already done that job well enough.

I do want to say though that I thought both teams fought the good fight. However, the multiple missed field goals by both teams' kickers were unbelievably frustrating. The last time Kevin Kelly missed a field goal, I punched my thigh so hard, I nearly saw stars.

The fact that it went into triple-OT was mind-blowing, which made it all the more frustrating, yet exciting...so many ups and downs. It also took me awhile to get the rule changes in OT because, well, again...I am not a sports aficionado...plus anyone I could ask had already gone to bed. I managed to figure it out on my own though...I catch on quickly!

After the game, Bobby Bowden had nice things to say about JoePa and the Lions, which I thought was very respectable. I've gotta comment though...I don't know the name of this one guy on the Seminoles' sideline...he was one of the team coaches or something, wearing a headset. Every time they showed him on camera, I was distracted by his frog-like gum-chewing...I kept waiting for his tongue to lash out of his mouth to catch a passing fly. I know, I know, that's horrible to say...but, I notice things like this...I can't help it! There now, I feel better. Congrats JoePa and PSU!

(Frank, looks like it's time to get rid of that Florida State gear and throw on some Blue & White!)


My First Bad Day of the New Year

Yesterday was a bad day...although, yes, I have had much worse. The only thing that went right about the day was that PSU won the Orange Bowl, which did make me feel better! Anyway, I'll spare you all the details, but what I will say is that I haven't been feeling so hot since last Friday. I've had a head cold and cough, which made me feel even worse by Sunday. So, this week hadn't started off great as it is. I've been very sleepy, probably from the cold meds I'm taking, which makes we want to do nothing all day. So, imagine my feeling when I had to go out yesterday, when I didn't want to. Regardless, though, it was necessary. Basically, it involved a lot of waiting around on my part (or chauffeuring as I call it), when I all I wanted to do was be at home, as well as my annoyance at my sister's irresponsibility. That led to getting in an argument with her and with my dad, for something indirectly related to the whole thing. It was one of those days I felt like crawling into bed and starting it all over. However, I did manage to get an apology from my sister and patch things up with my dad. Now, what to do about those New Year's Resolutions? I'm thinking I need to bring "Move Out" to the top of my list...

Some Love For My Team

Just wanted to quickly wish good luck to my Penn State football team. I'm hoping this game will make me feel better, after the crappy day I had...more on that later, though. Anyway, as an alum, I gotta support my Lions in every way. I am also taking this as an opportunity to broadcast to my fellow PSU friends that my cousin, Frank, has allegiance to Florida State...no, he is not a student there...he is still in high school...but hopes to go there eventually. He is wearing his Florida gear and rubbing it in my face as I talk to him online. (I can forward any hate mail to him...hehe).

Here are his exact words as I told him I will get my Penn State posse against him:
"well i will sick chief osceola on you and the rest of the seminoles with their bows and arrows and spears."

Frank, all I gotta say to you is............Your Seminoles are going down!

WE ARE...


PENN STATE!