What to Watch  I wanted to make sure I got this out there Monday morning so that everyone was aware of Monday’s television action.                                                        

Monday has Opening Day baseball almost the entire day.  ESPN will show the Blue Jays and Yankees (1 p.m.) and the Giants and Dodgers (4 p.m.).  ESPN2 will show the Brewers and Cubs (2 p.m.), Angels and Twins (7 p.m.) , and the Astros and the Padres (10 p.m.).   

Why Santana’s Opening Day start for the Mets isn’t televised is beyond my comprehension.

FINAL FOUR ACTION:  All four Number 1’s have made it to the Final Four for the first time since the tournament moved to its 64 team format, which can only mean one thing: three amazing games of basketball.  Memphis and UCLA open things up on Saturday at 6, followed by UNC and Kansas. (CBS)     

What to watch if sports aren’t your thing: 

American Idol:  Tuesday at 8 p.m. and Wednesday at 9 p.m. FOX (new)

Dolly Parton coaches the contestants and the final nine get knocked down to eight.  Kristy Lee in the Bottom 3?  I think so.  

Survivor Micronesia:  Thursday 8 p.m. CBS (new)           

Survivor continues to get more and more interesting as the fans and favorites become tighter with each other.  Plus, in the preview from the last episode, Erik busts himself up in a challenge, so that’s always fun to watch.  

The Office: Thursday 9 p.m. NBC (repeat)           

NBC gives viewers a little present this week with four back-to-back episodes of The Office.  That’s two hours of comedy, including “Local Ad,” “Branch Wars,” “Survivor Man,” and “The Deposition.”  Basically it’s the last four episodes before the Writer’s Strike and they are all good.  I’ll be watching to get reacquainted with what’s been going on before the new episode rolls in next Thursday.  And that’s the Week Ahead.

Felipe had a birthday last week. I’m not sure if he turned 25 or 5, but since he has a ridiculous obsession with McDonald’s, we decided to take him there for his birthday party. He was lovin’ it. We asked the cashier for birthday hats, but apparently they don’t do that in Berlin. After they said no, John Lane asked if we could just have one of the paper hats that the guy flipping burgers had on. No again! (Stupid birthday nazis.) But it was alright, we drank Bitburger out of paper cups, ate some “schmecktakel” food, and I even talked the cashier into giving us a single fry (we had already eaten all of ours) so that John could light it on fire while we sang happy birthday. Afterwards, we went to the mystery bar that John finally found, where we bought a beer with a sheep on the label and another with a wolf. This resulted in the following video, which isn’t all that funny unless you pay close attention to the way that Felipe “barks.” It really sounds pretty ridiculous and nothing at all like a wolf. I guess they don’t have wolves in Brazil.

www.blacksburgbrewing.com

Top Chef: Chicago

This week’s Quickfire challenge was to make the simplistic taco into what the judges would consider “fine dining.”  Richard took the challenge to heart and, with his interesting styles, won his second Quickfire.  After splitting into two teams, the chefs were driven to the suburbs of Chicago, where they were told that their elimation challenge was to cater for a neighborhood block party.  In the end, Erik’s poor performance cost him his chance at the 100 grand. 

Erik is a clear cut example of what not to do on Top Chef.  He started the first episode with a terrible soufflé.  Then, in this episode, he didn’t even attempt to make his taco upscale.  The nail in the coffin was his soggy corn dog.  In theory, it would have worked out well if he had found a way to keep the dogs from steaming during transportation.  However, he didn’t and the show’s most dissappointing chef is gone.

American Idol

I’m not going to lie; I missed Idol this week.  However, I do know that Chikezie bit the dust after landing in the bottom three with Jason and Syesha.  Surprisingly, Kristy Lee was safe this week, but I expect her to reclaim her customary seat in the Bottom Three sooner rather than later.

Survivor: Micronesia

Survivor took its seasonal one week hiatus, which left me channel surfing like a zombie Thursday night.  However, all will be well next week as the Fans Versus Favorites Saga continues.

Reality moment of the week:  Top Chef: Andrew telling Chef Tom that he wasn’t going anywhere and that “this is my house.”  Look for more Andrew/Tom exchanges in the next couple episodes.

This Spring 2008 look from DKNY is the perfect little number for a warm night out on the town. The black satin dress is a classic, yet the tangerine sash belt and sunglasses add the pop of color that is this season’s hottest trend. Paired with a patent strappy heel, this look supplies just the right balance of sassy chic and spring’s fruity hues.

First: the dress. Every woman has her go-to “Little Black Dress,” but this season is taking the classic LBD to new heights with shorter hemlines. I found this great deal below from Forever 21, and at only $27.80, it’s perfect for dressing up or down with a wide range of accessories.

Second: the belt. I found a similar accent piece; not a belt, but a fabulous linen-blend scarf from Old Navy for just $14.50. Wear as a belt as per the DKNY inspiration, or drape around the neck on a breezy evening.

Third: the sunglasses. These cool shades in their orange shade are funky and fun for spring and summer, and the ones below from MaxMara are $29.99 at Overstock.com.

Finally: the shoe. Since I found the dress and accessories at such low prices, I opted for a pricier shoe, which is where you should invest the bulk of your money anyway. This pair of MICHAEL Michael Kors heels is a fantastic staple for the season for $109 at Dillard’s. Its patent straps are great for nighttime and the wood heel gives the shoe a beachy feel.

Altogether: under $200. Remember, a fabulous designer-inspired look is never out of reach — or out of budget!

It’s been a long week. We had a big research paper due today, and I’ve been fighting with my computer. Many Microsoft Office crashes later, it’s finally done. Until about 2 or 3 days ago, I thought that our assignment, which was to discuss the results of the malt analysis on the winter barley that we malted in the VLB pilot plant as well as other research on winter malting barley, was kind of stupid. My complaint was that we didn’t have a control sample of spring barley to malt as a comparison, but after having finished the report I see the value in what we did. Writing the paper really helped to bring several of my courses together (they said it would all come together in the end and I’m starting to think they were right), and I feel a lot more fluent in barley/malt analyzes and the issues surrounding the use of winter barley and the global supply of malting barley.

I’ve got some good material (Felipe’s birthday party at McDonald’s, witnessing a drug deal) queued up, but I’ll have to get to that later this weekend, once I’ve caught up on some sleep.

www.blacksburgbrewing.com

I thought I’d start this strange habit where once a month I expose alittle back stage pass of sorts. I’m sure its awkward in itself to read encouraging words from someone that has no idea who you are, but I do mean everything I say with all my being. And having said that, to prove my love I shall embarrass myself for the sake of being genuine. :] ooookie!

So everything I write is inspired by my currently spinnin’ playlist and I believe those artists do deserve the accreditation for their talent! However I will leave ambiguous which song was used for which post just to keep things spicy.
All songs listed are quite available in the iTunes music store, which I encourage all to buy (coughcough) the music from the listed artists for the fact that they are underground and not mainstream. Save the music! It will be listed as: Artist name. Title.

Priscilla Ahn. Dream.
Explosions in the Sky. What Do You Go Home To?
The Album Leaf. Over the Pond.
David Vandervelde. History.
Brie Stoner. Slaves.

All the photos featured along with the posts are mine taken with Canon Powershot SD1000. I am a shutterbug even though I often awkwardly give off the impression of looking like a tourist.

Ah and the crème de la crème.

A photo of yours truly.

toodles!