I'm looking at you, fellow Connecticut journos (and others who value blogging.)

Everyone and their pets has a blog these days, and now you can too. If you already have one, even better.

The New Haven Register is looking for more Community Media Lab bloggers because we want to hear what you care about and why everyone else should care about it.

A lot of people have blogs that are lost out there in the vast span of the Internet, but this is a way that your voice could be heard. Maybe your blog will help people understand the therapeutic value of knitting or what is going on with grade school education in your town.

Everyone has something to say about their community or their passions and joining the Community Media Lab is a great way to express yourself. If you can spare a few minutes per week to write about a passion or something that you have then this could be the beginning of a long friendship.

Apology to my fellow CT journos looking for work: The position is non-paying (purely volunteer) but it is journalism at its finest if you want it to be.

Simple guidelines from our Online Producer:
1. You must link to us in return for us linking to you
2. You must regularly post
3. You must be passionate about what you're writing about

Interested? Let me know or contact a New Haven Register staff member. Don't be shy - you never know what people might be interested in reading about.

OK, so basketball may not be a trend, but there is something that is jumping out at me during this particular March Madness season: I am (as well as some of my other non-obsessed wannabe basketball fan friends) getting excited about basketball.

As a University of Connecticut graduate, I was bred to love the game. I painted my face with a blue and white UC, spend big bucks on UConn sports paraphernalia, and made sure to get season tickets. While I loved the energy, camaraderie and excitement about basketball, I never really loved the game.

Junior year of college I found myself at the elite eight in Arizona, which then turned into a trip to the final four in Detroit and those games were a bit closer to my heart than any regular basketball game, but still, it was just basketball.

Even after standing for hours staring at a basketball court in New York City only to watch Syracuse crush UConn by a few points, it was still just a game to me, albeit a painful one.

But now I find myself out of college with a real job and a non-collegiate lifestyle aching to watch UConn win the game tonight in a big step in the NCAA tournament. Maybe it's true that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone. But I don't just miss dressing up in blue and white and screaming the UConn chant with my fellow Huskies. I think, gulp, I miss basketball. It's a weird feeling for me, as someone who always kind of understood sports but never really strained to understand them too deeply.

I have noticed that some of my fellow college graduate friends feel the same way about their alma maters' sporting events. In that spirit, I want to encourage those who may not be die-hard sports fans to turn on their televisions and try to understand what an alley-oop is.

You can start by tuning in at 7 p.m. tonight to watch UConn beat San Diego.

U C O N N! UCONN! UCONN! UCONN!

Years ago people had hoards of kids. OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but more than 2.5. When the economy booms, babies boom as well and in this economic slump and sophisticated world people are waiting longer to have kids and having fewer kids. Even George Clooney's girlfriend said she is content with her dogs.


Pups > Kids?

Organizations are popping up to meet the need that this trend fuels. There are plenty of adoption centers for pets and store windows advertising wide-eyed pups that leave customers asking "how much is that doggy in the window?" But some companies are pushing the adoption of older dogs because as many dog-owners know, the time it takes to raise and train a puppy is just short of what it could take to raise a child. Well, kids may take a little bit more effort than that, but you get the point.

Tate Dugan, spokeswoman for FlexPet Shelter Program, an organization that assists in the adoption of older dogs, is one organization catering to the trend. The organization's parent company, Flexcin International, took a nationwide online survey of 1,250 pet owners between the ages of 21 and 30 and 61 percent said they would rather adopt an older dog over a puppy because of the time commitment. More than half (54 percent) also said they would choose a dog over a child because they aren't sure if they could handle caring for a child.


So if you don't feel like you are ready to change diapers and teach someone how to walk, fear not, you can adopt an older dog and have a companion without all of the responsibility.

Margaritas and Martinis were the go-to drinks for a night out a few years ago but these days, wine is all the rage.


Growing up, I always thought that wine was a drink for people in my parents' generation. Twenty-somethings were seen with a vodka cocktail topped with a sleek lemon twist or something pink and carbonated with raspberries floating it it - never a simple glass of wine. But now, wine bars with fancy, exotic food are the hot new place to be on a Friday night, not to mention my new obsession.

This summer Bar Bouchon, soon to be named Bar Bouche, opened up in Madison and has remained popular (and packed) since. The Lyon-style cuisine and affordable wine has gotten national attention and even sparked some controversy with well-known chef, Thomas Keller, who happens to own a "Bar Bouchon" in Beverly Hills, Calif.


What's in a name?


While I haven't visited the hot French restaurant, I did find myself at a Spanish tapas wine bar in New Haven this weekend called Barcelona. The food is a tad pricey, but the quality surpasses most of the food I have eaten in my life.

Barcelona, New Haven

The cozy, candle-lit, edgy restaurant makes you want to drink wine - and nothing else. I have a feeling that these restaurants, which already exist in places like New York and LA will be popping up everywhere soon; before people know it, they will be draped over a chair next to a marble-topped bar holding a glass filled with a rich, berry colored merlot.