The Los Angeles Lakers are headed to the 2008 NBA Finals. They sealed their fate by beating the San Antonio Spurs 100-92 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. After stealing Game 4 at San Antonio, the Lakers came home to end the series in front of their home fans.

Not surprisingly, Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers. Bryant had 39 point and was a beast down the stretch. He proved without a doubt that he’s the best player in the NBA and that his 2008 Most Valuable Player award was well deserved.

The Spurs, who are the NBA’s defending champions, couldn’t get the breaks to go their way this series. After a controversial ending to Game 4, the Spurs got up by 17 points in the first half against the Lakers in Game 5 but were unable to hold on.

The Lakers will play the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, which has the Boston Celtics with a 3-2 lead over the Detroit Pistons. The Celtics and Pistons will play Game 6 in Detroit. If Detroit wins Game 6, the two teams will play Game 7 on Sunday.

The Lakers are headed back to the Finals for the first time since 2004. Los Angeles hasn’t won a championship since the 2002 season, when they won their third in a row that year.

Remember a couple years back when NBA commissioner David Stern instituted the “dress code” for the NBA players? At that time I thought it was a little ridiculous that someone would need to tell grown men how to dress. But hey, I guess a lot of the NBA stars hate suits too!

Here’s some highlights from how the Lakers finished off the Spurs on Thursday night …

Recently, Mount Everest has been in the news a lot. The Olympic torch made a trip to the mountain. Then two old guys were able to ascend Mount Everest. A 76-year-old man from Nepal, Min Bahadar Surchan, and a 75-year-old man from Japan, Yuichiro Miura, were able to get to the top of Everest.

If you love the outdoors and you love mountains, have you ever thought about climbing mountains for a living? It’s an odd way to make a living – but definitely not impossible. Only a few hundred people have ever climbed Mount Everest, and while they don’t get a pot of gold at the top of the mountain, the notoriety associated with such a feat can be turned into cash.

For example, a lot of mountain climbers write books about their adventures. Other ways to make money from your mountain climbing exploits include making motivational speeches, selling the rights to your story or using your new name recognition to start a new business.

Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first person to ever climb Mount Everest, became a millionaire in his lifetime. A lot of his money can as a direct result from the fame he gained when accomplishing his goal.

What are you waiting for? Head to the latest hill and get to practicing!

Chicago Bulls forward Joakim Noah was charged with possession of marijuana and having an open container of alcohol early on Sunday. Noah was hanging out in Gainsville holding a notorious red cup. The cops found an “amber drink” inside. Gainsville police say Noah was arrested on the open container charge at 1:50am on Sunday morning. During a search back at the police station, the officers found marijuana in his pocket.

Noah could face up to six months in jail (yeah, right!) and a $500 fine (chump change) on the pot charge.

If the Bulls had a coach, I’m guessing that he might be upset. But since, they don’t have a coach …

(Hey, maybe you can apply for the job!)

Noah was an integral part of the Florida Gators team that one back-to-back NCAA basketball championships. He was selected by the Bulls with the ninth overall pick in last June’s NBA draft.

Now isn’t a good time to be looking for jobs on Wall Street. If you have a Wall Street job, you’re probably worried about the status of your job. With the struggling economy of the United States, Wall Street has become a harder place to survive.

The main problem for Wall Street is people currently don’t have a lot of extra money for investment purposes. A few years ago, a family could dabble in the stock market and save money for a rainy day. Today, a lot of those same families have to spend every incoming penny just to stay afloat. To compound the affects of the struggling economy, rising energy costs and gas prices have put a pinch on a majority of families in the United States.

Wall Street related companies are making job cuts to try to make up for less business coming their way. This week Morgan Stanley got rid of 1,500 employees – most of the eliminated jobs were in the fields of asset management businesses, investment banking and trading.

Another company, Lehman Brothers, is expected to cut approximately 1,500 employees on Monday. After this latest round of cuts, Lehman Brothers would have eliminated about 6,500 jobs in the last year. Rumors also have JPMorgan Chase looking to make major job cuts.

If you are interested in working on Wall Street, you should wait until the economy turns around. Almost every economist believes that the economy will stabilize and recover at some point, which might even be in the not too distant future.

A recent report by Forbes found some interesting trends in the hourly job market. While some hourly jobs can end up paying quite well, there are some hourly jobs that aren’t so hot at the moment.

According to the report, the highest paying hourly job is a sales representative. Sales reps make about $28 per hour. Though the pay is good, a lot of sales rep say that the stress level is high, which results in a lot of turnover in this industry.

Other hourly jobs that pay well are administrative assistants, auto technicians and customer service representatives.

Those three professions average anywhere from $15 to $20. Many variables go into exactly how much someone should expect to earn in these lines of work, including experience and the state the job is in.

The most sought after hourly jobs are restaurant jobs. Being a waiter is a job that many people look into, however this line of work is famous for having an extremely high turnover rate.

What are the worst hourly jobs at the moment? With the down turn in the economy, construction workers and retail workers are losing jobs left and right. Since less and less people have disposable income, people aren’t building as much as they used to and they also aren’t shopping as much. Now isn’t the time to look for jobs in the construction field or the retail field.

Photo credit: Flickr

Recent studies show that the city of San Francisco added 10,000 new jobs in 2007 – many of which were high-paying technology jobs. San Francisco is quickly becoming one of the most technologically advanced places in the United States and many companies are opening offices within the city.

Among the companies that have recently added jobs in San Francisco are Yahoo and Google, which are arguably the two biggest and most powerful internet-based companies. Yahoo and Google opened offices in San Francisco to tap into the extremely savvy population of potential workers that call the city home.

While the economy is slowing job growth across the United States, that phenomenon isn’t as apparent in San Francisco. Due to San Francisco mostly relying on the steady technology field for their local economy, the city isn’t affected as much as other cities that rely on a broader array of fields.

If you are thinking about getting a job in the technology field, consider looking for jobs in San Francisco. However, keep in mind that San Francisco isn’t for everybody. While it’s true that the many high-paying jobs are available, the cost of living in San Francisco is also very high. Specifically, houses in San Francisco are notorious for being extremely expensive.

Be sure to calculate the increased cost of living if you plan to move to San Francisco for a job. The cost of living is high but depending on the specific job and the corresponding pay, it still might make sense for you to move.

Photo credit: Niall Kennedy - Flickr

Over the last few months, Microsoft has tried to purchase ownership of Yahoo. Microsoft has wanted to acquire Yahoo to better compete with Google in the search engine industry. However, over the weekend, Yahoo turned down Microsoft’s final offer and Microsoft responded by removing their all their offers from the table.

Reportedly, Microsoft was offering $33 per share. Yahoo was holding out for $37 per share. $33 per share would have totaled approximately $50 billion. On Monday, after news that Microsoft pulled their offer, Yahoo’s stock began to dip severely. Yahoo’s stock was on the rise due to the expectation that Yahoo was going to bought by Microsoft.

The problem for Yahoo now will be employee morale. Many Yahoo employees have stock options that have become a lot less valuable in the last week. With the value dropping almost in half, there are reports of many frustrated Yahoo employees.

If you’ve ever wanted to work for Yahoo, now would be a good time to apply. Yahoo will likely be losing employees over this fiasco. And while Yahoo may have made a mistake in their dealings with Microsoft, they are still a very powerful company that has a good reputation of taking care of their employees.

Yahoo has offices around the world – from Atlanta to Bangalore to San Jose to Taipei. You can find more information about Yahoo jobs at Careers.Yahoo.com.

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The Kentucky Derby, also known as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports”, takes place on Saturday at 4:30 PM EST. The winner of the Kentucky Derby will then move on to try to capture the Triple Crown, which hasn’t been accomplished since 1978.

With 20 horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby, the field is literally wide open. There isn’t a heavy favorite, however there are a number of horses that are expected to run well. Big Brown is currently at 3-1 to win the Kentucky Derby. Colonel John is at 4-1, while Pyro is at 6-1.

In 2007, Street Sense took home the win in the Kentucky Derby. The horse came into the race as the favorite and was able to live up to his billing. However, since 200, Street Sense was one of only three favorites to end up winning the Kentucky Derby.

After the Kentucky Derby, the second leg of the Triple Crown is the Preakness Stakes. The Belmont Stakes is the third and final race of the Triple Crown. Affirmed in 1978 was the last horse to win all three races. Other horses that have successfully won the Triple Crown include legendary horses such as Secretariat and Seattle Slew.

One of the best jobs right now (outside of owning one of these top horses) is probably a bookie. Can you imagine how much money they take in on the Triple Crown races?

As April came to an end, economists are projecting that the unemployment rate in the United States grew during the month. It is believed that the number of people who were fired or laid off is greater than the amount of new jobs that were created. Obviously, this isn’t good news for those with a job and it’s especially bad news for those looking for a job.

With the job market flooded with people out of work, it’s going to be more difficult to find jobs. Even if you find a job, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to make as much as you could have made a couple years ago.

Companies, like everyone else, are fearful of a recession. That alone will likely keep companies from spending freely.

“Businesses are getting very cautious,” Michael Gregory, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, told Bloomberg. “They’re going to wait to see consumers start coming back before you start to see hiring again. We’re in a little bit of a vicious circle.”

If you are looking for a job, you may have to lower your expectations for the time being. Accepting a job for less pay may be necessary, at least in the short term. The good news is that once the economy turns around, the job market should revert to normalcy relatively quickly.

May Day is celebrated on the first day of May each year. Depending on where you live, May Day can mean a lot of things. It can just be a day of festivals and pagan dancing around the Maypole. The Maypole is created by covering a tall wooden poll with flowers and greenery. Then the pole is raised up and the celebration begins with dancers frolicking around the pole with colorful ribbons. Another May Day tradition is leaving a basket of flowers or candy on the doorstep of someone you are interested in.

However, May Day isn’t all fun and games; it is also a day of solidarity of the labor force.

Many cities have marches where workers are encouraged to take the day off and join in solidarity against “The Man.” In various labor movements around the world, May Day is synonymous with International Workers’ Day - a day of celebrations, marches and other organized activities of workers and labor unions.

Over the last few years, there have been some problems with the May Day marches in some major cities, like Los Angeles. In 2007, the May Day pro-illegal immigration rally in MacArthur Park in L.A. turned into a melee between a group of about 50 protesters and LAPD. The protesters threw water bottles and oranges at the police. The melee was broken up when the officers began firing foam rubber projectiles at the protesters.

Though there are May Day activities scheduled in Los Angeles again this year, the police are expected to be on alert.

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