It's no secret that I like the Internet. I'm all about Facebook and Twitter, and I even recently upgraded my LinkedIn (get at me, employers). I'm still at "lurker" status on Reddit and Imgur because what if I get downvotes, but I feel like I can kind of consider myself a part of those communities, as well. Internet people are my people.

I get the internet, which is why this petition to change the National Anthem to R. Kelly's 2003 hit Remix Ignition made me laugh for several minutes, began a seemingly endless loop of "bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce" in my brain, and instilled a sense of generational pride I hadn't totally felt before.

We're Millennials! The internet is our home. We were the ones troubleshooting our parent's Internet Explorer, meticulously changing the fonts of our AIM buddy profiles, and starting angsty blogs about our troubled suburban lives (Or was that just me?). We're no strangers to the online world, and we haven't always appreciated or really even acknowledged that power.

In the 2008 election, Millennials made up just 18 percent of the electorate. Granted, 18 percent is higher than was expected, and in 2012, that number rose to 19 percent. But why isn't that number 38 percent, like the boomer generation? Personally, politics hurts my feelings because I'm very easily offended by raised voices and unwavering opinions. However, I voted!  We have a duty! This is America, etc.

We've been using the internet for dumb stuff for years! This is also, admittedly, a little dumb. But it's political! Guys, it's progress! According to Pew Research (what isn't according to Pew?) more of us were able to identify the Twitter logo last month than were able to identify Secretary of State John Kerry. That's embarrassing. But according to MacArther foundation, we're the first generation to really use the internet for participatory politics, and 41 percent of us have communicated politically using new media. That's a lot of percentage, y'all!

So now, after five paragraphs of words, here is the point of this blog post: I feel like we're getting it. I was one of the first 1,500 people to sign that petition, not because I really think it would or should ever happen, but because I just feel like maybe President Obama would handle it with a very charming press conference and maybe R.Kelly would make an appearance and maybe I would be invited. We're still not the most politically active generation. But I think this is a strong start. We're relating, finally, in our own way.

Keep it up, fellas and honeys. Go 'head on and break 'em off with a lil' preview of the remix.

A team of McCombs MBA students won this year’s University of North Carolina Real Estate Development Challenge on Feb. 15, taking home bragging rights in addition to the $10,000 prize. The tower will be lit on March 19 to celebrate their victory. The national competition, which took place Feb. 14-15 in Chapel Hill, N.C., brought together 16 teams from MBA programs across the country. Teams were given the real estate development case on the Tuesday before the competition and presented their plans to judges on Friday morning. Four teams advanced to the finals, where they presented again. Second place went to a team from Columbia University, and teams from Vanderbilt and UCLA tied for third place.

This year’s case was for the development of a 136-acre plot of land east of downtown Houston. The McCombs team, which included first-year MBA students Richard Long, Mason Gilmore, and Ziad Haddad, and second-year MBA student Courtney Blackburn, developed their plan to include a largely residential area with some parks along the bayou, anchoring the area with a large H-E-B grocery store.

The students had a mixed-income outlook for the development, designing townhomes and apartments that would attract tenants from various income levels.

The team attributes part of their success to their varied backgrounds in real estate. Gilmore worked in Houston and was familiar with the specific site, so he was able to contribute to the conceptual plan. Long had a background in development, so he contributed to the finance aspects of the plan as well as the modeling and phasing for the project. Haddad had previously studied architecture, and using his experience and software, the team created a visual of the entire development. Blackburn, a Houston native, acted as the student coordinator for the University of Texas National Real Estate Competition, and contributed her knowledge of the area as well as her experience on the other side of the competition.

Gilmore says that because the team had so much prior experience, they were able to work toward a goal easily and quickly.

“We worked really well together and we were all on board with our site plan vision,” Gilmore says. “We were able to come to agreeance early, which allowed us to make our presentation a little more detailed than our competition.”

The team worked on the presentation for several hours after receiving the case on Tuesday, and then worked from 8 a.m. Wednesday to 4 a.m. Thursday before boarding their flight to Chapel Hill. According to Blackburn, the time limitation was the team’s biggest challenge.

“I’d say the biggest challenge was the time crunch,” Blackburn says. “At a certain point, you worry if you’ll have enough time, but I think it ended up working out great.”

Despite the stress of the competition, Gilmore says the competition has given the team real-world experience across all areas of real estate development.

“It was a fun experience, and it was very helpful,” Gilmore says. “We were able to look at all aspects of the development process, the site plan, the phasing, the market, and the numbers. Usually you're just able to look at one aspect as a part of your job, but having to balance them all was a fun learning experience.”

Blackburn agrees, saying that she believes the competition experience will benefit her in her future career.

“This is what I’m going to be doing in real life, and it definitely got me excited about going out in the real world,” Blackburn says. “I loved it, and it was easily the most rewarding thing I’ve done with my MBA so far.”

Reposted from McCombs Today