Attack of the Monster Caterpillar

So I’m leaving work on Tuesday like I normally do. As I am walking out of the building I almost step on this bright, green, crawly thing.

What the heck is this? I have never seen a caterpillar that looked like this before.

First off, it was enormous and bright green! I’m not a big bug person, big surprise for those of you that know me well. This thing was thick and covered in green layers.

YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!! As I’m standing there I consider my options. What if this is some sort of poisonous monster caterpillar that is going to infect Channel 4? Should I step on it and squash it to death? I decide the best thing to do is to start snapping pictures of it.

Today, I did some simple research and found out that it is a Luna moth. They are common throughout the eastern U.S. Here is a picture of the moth the crawly guy becomes. So all that concern and worry for nothing. The monster caterpillar is not attacking Channel 4. Don’t worry, the world is safe!

Cell Phones Fight Fat

Almost everyone out there would like to lose 10 pounds. Did you know that your cell phone can help? I’m not talking about using it as an MP3 player. It’s the next step in the digital world- diet cell phone plans.
Nurtax.com is a free online diet service that lets you use your cell phone to snap pictures of what you’re eating. You then send them to an online account for a summary of the calorie intake, carbohydrates, fat and nutritional value. That’s pretty cool. Although you have to do a little work to describe what you ate, it overall is pretty painless.

I know what you’re thinking…Does it really work? Well, taking pictures with your cell phone camera might not get you completely accurate results, but you don’t have anything to lose, except pounds.
I think it may just be the best food journal out there. By keeping pictures of everything you eat, you may just be surprised how many calories and fat you’re actually consuming.

Paradise here we come!

Pack your beach bag because I have the absolute best last minute travel sites that you have to check out.
You can book a spontaneous getaway this weekend or next on site59.com. You can book vacation packages just three hours prior to domestic flights and five hours prior to international flights. You can save up to 70 percent on trips that would otherwise go unbooked.
11thhour.com is another great site for last minute travel deals. This travel site lets you hold your travel package for 24 hours before having to purchase. That way you can make sure it’s the trip you want at the best price you can find. Its travel theme section lets you pick what type of vacation you want to take; family, budget, romantic, adventure and last minute.
On the site Travelzoo.com sign up for its weekly Top 20 newsletter email. You can find fantastic deals through this weekly e-mail and it’s secure to give them your email address.
I am hopefully going to take some type of vacation sometime before November and I plan on booking my trip from one of these sites. I know I won’t get a five star hotel, but it won’t break my budget and leave me with extra money for shopping or any activities I would want to do. Seriously, bookmark these sites under your favorites.

Click here for links to these travel sites.

County Fair

Last night I headed out to the WTAE Channel 4 Westmoreland County Fair to sign autographs. I’ve been to fairs before, but not the Westmoreland County Fair. I had a blast! My friend Rachel went with me. It was my first time signing autographs. It was a little weird at first, but ended up being so much fun. I even got a free bag of absolutely delicious kettle corn.

After my signing session we hit up the food vendors. I had a hot sausage sandwich. It hit the spot and then we had Hawaiian shaved ice for dessert as we walked around the livestock area and games section. It was a great night!

Nike and an iPod

Do you need some motivation to get into shape? Well, Nike and iPod have come together to get you off your butt.
The Nike and iPod sports kit cost $29 and it’ll records the time, distance, pace and calories burned in real time as you walk or run.
The kit uses a single sensor and connector to work wirelessly together, but it only works with the iPod Nano.

You can customize your workout and obviously get to choose your music. The iTunes Music Store does offer some pretty cool play lists that will definitely get you moving. You can even choose these things called “power songs.” They let you play certain songs anytime you’re feeling tired or facing a big hill and need a little kick in your step. Nike has seven styles of compatible sneakers to choose from and they’ll cost you between $80 and $110 and of course you need the iPod Nano.

I think this is a great investment for anyone. It is especially cool for women who want to know how many calories they’re burning. I know that is the number one thing I focus on when I’m doing any cardio workout. The dilemma: you must have a Nano. I am still stuck with a Mini. I know they’re terribly un-cool now, but I’m cheap. I flat out don’t want to spend my own money on an upgrade, maybe for Christmas. The question is, should I go for the Nano or Video iPod? Hopefully by then Nike + iPod will be compatible for all iPods. We can only hope. Check out my Plugged In story.

Recycle that Computer

Do you have an old computer lying around just collecting dust? Well, it couldn’t be easier to find a new home for it. You can drop it off locally at any Goodwill store. By donating that used computer, you’re helping their programs and the environment by recycling.

I visited the Goodwill building where they fix and store all the donated computers. Let me tell you, it is huge. There are hundreds of PCs and Macs, laptops and desktops. A lot of the computers are almost brand spanking new.

Once the computers are refurbished you can buy them at the SouthSide Goodwill computer store. They have desktops, laptops, printers, pretty much anything to do with a computer. The deals are great!

You can also find that old computer a good home at cristina.org. This charity site provides computers to nonprofit groups. If you have an HP or Gateway computer, why not trade it in? They’ll apply the value of the old machine toward a new one. You can always sell that dusty old PC or Mac on eBay for some extra cash. The bottom line, just recycle it!

Zunafish???

Do you have old paperbacks, CDs, DVDS, even VHS tapes just lying around?
You don’t want to throw them away, but you don’t really want them anymore. Now you can swap them online for just a $1 on Zunafish.com. Don’t worry, you won’t find any seafood on this site!

Zunafish lets you trade DVDs, CDs, paperbacks, video games, VHS tapes and audiobooks. It’s absolutely free to join and every successful trade you make only costs you a dollar. I actually signed up and it really is as easy as it sounds. For example, my roommate is addicted to collecting DVDs. She used to collect VHS tapes. Needless to say, we have a huge collection of movies. This site would be a great way for her to swap some of those old VHS movies that she won’t ever watch again for someone else’s VHS movies that she hasn’t seen or doesn’t already own. The best part: it’s dirt cheap! Check out my Plugged in story to learn more.

B-day

Just this past weekend I celebrated my 23rd birthday! Here is just a small sample of the pics taken Saturday night.

I’m not a big birthday person, so me and a small group of friends went out to dinner and hit up the South Side.

Me and Sandy, my BF from college
Rachel, Stacey and I on the dance floor

I had an absolute blast! We bounced to a couple of different bars before ending the night at Diesel, where we broke it down on the dance floor. I can’t believe another birthday has come and gone. In two weeks some of my close friends from high school are coming down for a belated celebration. I can’t wait!

Catching Up

So I have a lot to catch you up on. First off, I am slowly trying to incorporate “out of work” or personal pictures into my blog. It’s coming along, but still a work in progress. I just always forget I have a camera in my bag when I’m out.

I want to give a shout out to Kari our former intern here at thePittsburghChannel.com. She, unfortunately, had to leave us to go back to school in Arizona. She was great and we miss her already!

Last week I had a promo shoot taken for a commercial that will air on TV. I have to say it was slightly overwhelming. I had no idea what went into a shoot; all the professional equipment and all the people. I only had one real job, other than to just show up. All I had to do was say one simple line while looking at a moving camera. No problem, right? Well, let me tell you, I was really nervous. I’m used to only one other person listening to me, now I had ten people jammed in one tiny room making me look my best while I repeat the same line twenty times, over and over again. I felt like I just couldn’t get it right. Not only was I sweating ridiculously, but I was so nervous I probably had the worst breath imaginable! Needless to say, I finished the shoot and I think the promo commercial is going to turn out really well. I’m really excited. Make sure to watch for it on TV.

Angie’s List

This is flat out a great site! It is perfect for people who are looking to find a good auto mechanic, handyman, plumber, roofer, decorator, and about 250 other categories. As a member you can read other reviews and even write your own. Angie’s List is listed in cities across the country including Pittsburgh.

I had mentioned in an early blog that I am on the hunt for a new apartment. Once I finally decide to move, I will probably need to hire some movers because I have so much junk it’s ridiculous, but since I’m not from the area, who do I get to help? Relying on the Yellow Pages can be sketchy. Word of mouth is an option, but Angie’s List takes the cake. Angie’s List is great for those of us who haven’t lived here all our lives and are Internet savvy.

A one year membership fee is $55, which isn’t bad. Think of how often you may need to rely on Angie’s List in one year and the price is worth it to have quality work done. If you’re not sure about joining still head to Angieslist.com and check out their Quick Tour and FAQ section.

Online Games

I feel like playing games online is a whole other world. I can understand how people become “gaming addicts.” There are just thousands and thousands of gaming sites out there. For my Plugged In story, I chose 1001onlinegames.com. This site doesn’t actually have 1001 different games, but it does have a lot and does offer links to over 40 other gaming sites. I played around on the site and found that Speed was my favorite game. I also found out that some of the racing games, like Rural Racer, are extremely difficult because you have to drive the cars with your arrow keys. I kept getting confused on which arrow I used and where I was going. My car never seemed to make it around the entire track because I kept crashing into the same section of wall. I guess I’m just a classic gamer. I don’t like anything too difficult when it comes to eye-hand coordination.

Flash Drives; Your new BFF…

The number one thing any high school or college student headed back to school needs is a flash drive. I know from experience, it was my best friend throughout my last year of college. Not only did I store folders of pictures, video clips, and all my papers/homework on it, I never had to use my printer again. Before the flash drive I was burning papers to CDs and even using those things called floppy disks, yuck!!! With the flash drive you just copy and paste or click and drag anything you want and it’ll load right on.

At the beginning of my last year I needed to buy printing paper and two new ink cartridges for my printer. That’s a lot of money and I was cheep, so I didn’t bother. Instead, I used the flash drive to transfer my work from home to school and would just print anything and everything I need using the school printer. I figured I was paying them a ridiculous amount of money; I might as well get something additional out of it! But seriously, the flash drive became my absolute best friend. I was a total dork and would wear it around my neck. If only I would have had it for the duration of my college years.

Digital or Diamonds

A Girls Gone Wired survey out by the Oxygen Network says that women would like tech toys over jewelry, clothes and shoes; specifically a plasma TV over a diamond necklace. But that didn’t seem to be the case here in Pittsburgh. A survey on thePittsburghChannel.com resulted in women choosing the bling over the plasma and almost everyone I talked to went for the ice.

I worked my way into Bailey Banks and Biddle downtown to check
out their diamond bobbles. I had never been in there before. As soon as I walked in, I had this uncontrollable grin on my face like an idiot. I was really a kid in a candy store.

The best part was the $12,500 diamond necklace I wore. I have never worn something worth that much in my entire life. That’s just $4,000 less than I paid for my car! It was absolutely stunning! Obviously, I wanted to just walk right out with it on, but then I would be wrestled to the ground, arrested and thrown in jail; my journalism career over. So, I had to give it back.

Lets be honest, I don’t care if you say that you’d pick the plasma TV. If you had those diamonds around your neck, trust me, you’d say diamonds.

As far as what I would pick. I live and breathe everything and anything related to technology, but a plasma TV will eventually drop in price and I can see everything clearly on my current television. Diamonds are an investment that you’ll have forever and they won’t lose their value. So the diamond necklace is my choice, hands down.