Transcripts For WBAL Today 20110927 : vimarsana.com

meantime in this half hour a health scare for a popular talk show host, ellen degeneres, who called paramedics after feeling some tightness in her chest on monday. she s laughing about it now, during her show but it wasn t a laughing matter when she felt that tightness in her chest. wasn t a laughing matter then but she has some pretty good material out of it actually. in our diet s.o.s. joy bauer is answers questions, why indulging in our favorite sodas won t necessarily ruin our diet and the type of oatmeal to avoid if you re diabetic and the time of day, does it matter when eating high calorie treats. our biology, are we making food choices based on our biology or actual sex? some people say that s why men tend to prefer meat and women tend to crave desserts and chocolate. hmm. i must be in touch with both because i love meat and dessert. we ve always accused you of being in touch with your feminine side, that s funny. jill martin is here with fashion and function, high-tech gadgets and the high-tech boots for the winter so you can get your pedicure and let the nail polish dry. who knew we needed that? in february. we we get our manny pedis we know that. natalie morales, good morning. ai federal government shutdown has likely been averted after senate leaders agreed to a xro he miz to keep the country up and running through november 18th but the move forced the senate to abandon plans to replenish disaster aid coffers. a smaller aid package will move forward. amanda knox, american student accused of killing her british roommate in 2007. the prosecutors called her a diabolical she devil pushing her life sentence in prison. knox denies the charges against her and hopes to be released after four years in jail, expected to address the court later this week. some dramatic new video from inside the washington monument shows the terror during last month s earthquake, about 500 feet in the air, no one was hurt amazingly. the park ranger seen on the video helping to get tourists out thought they were under attack. crews are expected to rappel dune t down the exterior to survey the damage. looking at the long-term effects of caffeine on mood disorders, coffee may lower a woman s disk of depression. the study by the harvard school of public health followed 50,000 women for ten years. those who drank two to three cups of coffee a day were 15% less likely to develop depression compared to those who drank one or less each day. ellen degeneres is laughing off a scary moment on her talk show set, when paramedics were called after she began suffering chest pains. i woke up in the middle of the night and feeling the tightness on the chest, felt like something heavy was on my chest, and it was a cat so i moved it, then i still felt the tightness and heaviness, it was another cat under those cat, there were two cats on my chest. i m fine, let me just say i m fine. [ cheers and applause ] and the paramedics were strippers that i had called, and so she went on to thank those paramedics for caring so much and as you heard, totally, she s totally fine. you might think that beer and unicycles just don t mix but put dozens of beer bottles in a row and you ve got a record breaking stunt. a ger ran unicyclist rode over the bottle force 30 feet. he took his show on the road riding his unicycle across the alps. i see something for our senior producer don nash to work on. let s go to al with a check of the weather. today s weather brought to you by advil, make the switch to advil now. we are here at our nbc news education nation experience and we want to remind you that we re trying to do something to help schools all across the country, especially in need of school supplies. it s our school supply drive, all week we re collecting notebooks, pencils, rulers, crayons, anything that you can use in a classroom to help out schools that are in need. for more information go to our website, today.com and get more information. let s check your weather for you. today we have that upper level low spinning around the lower great lakes, we re trying to get it kicked out of here so we can get rid of these showers that are plaguing the great lakes and the northeast, wet weather also down along that front, down through the gulf, more showers moving into the pacific northwest, cooler temperatures through the great lakes, temperatures nice and warm though under that ridge of high pressure out west, 83 in salt lake. 81 in billings, look for a high of 101 could morning. maybe a thunderstorm in some areas. good morning. you might get a peak of the sun in the afternoon. and that s your latest weather. savannah? sending out an s.o.s. al, thanks, this morning on joy s diet s.o.s. answers to your daily diet dilemma. joy bauer talking about everything from getting your soda fix to the healthiest time to eat oatmeal. good morning, savannah. right to the skype lines, annette in indiana this morning. what is your question? good morning. my question is that i m 47 years old and i want to lose ten pounds but my biggest downfall is i m a huge pepsi drinker, and i tell myself all the time that i m going to cut down or just stop, but i never do. so i m desperate. can you help me? okay, joy, yes you probably know i am totally anti-soda, but i could also understand how difficult it is to give up the things that we love and everybody has their own personal thing and yours is clearly the soda, so i think this is the perfect compromise. give yourself one can each day of your pepsi, and don t waste it with your meals because your taste buds are already excited by the food, instead drink it either after lunch or after dinner. if you do that, one can is only 150 calories, you re not going to feel deprived, not going to prevent you from losing weight and i think it s a perfect middle ground. all right annette. you can do this! maybe sparkling water if you like the fizzy feeling in your mouth. the one daily can and other than that, sparkling water. next question, lindsay on the phone from duluth, georgia, lindsay, good morning. caller: good morning. what is your question? caller: i was wondering, is it better to splurge either on a meal or a single high calorie item early in the day so you can work off those extra calories or does it really matter? it doesn t make a difference. when we are strictly talking about weight loss, we re not talking about blood sugars or bloating, just about weight loss, all your body is concerned with are the collective calories at the end of the day so whether you eat that chocolate doughnut for 500 calories at 9:00 in the morning or evening, it s not going to affect weight gain or weight loss so selectively splurge and when do you account for the calories and plug it in at any point during the day. lindsey, i liked where you were going, eat earlier in the day and work it off. caller: thanks, joy. no tricks. e-mail from stacie in pennsylvania, does instant oatmeal have the same nutritional content as regular oatmeal? instant oatmeal and old-fashioned has the same nutrition. 150 calories per half cup dry, both the soluble fiber which helps to lower cholesterol and both whole grains. the only downside to the instant oatmeal is that it s rolled super thin to cook quicker and because of that, it increases the glycemic index so what that means is you ll have blood sugars that rise higher and quicker after the instant oatmeal versus after a longer cooking oatmeal and the best oatmeal for diabetics are the steel cut oats because it has the least impact on blood sugars. for people with diabetes and having an issue with the blood sugars you re better off with the longer oatmeal. for others, go with which ever you want. they have the same nutrition. melissa in atlanta, i m working out with a trainer to slim down and lose body fat, i m 42-year-old, 5 7 , 156 pounds and work out four times a week. i eat 1,000 to 1,100 calories on non-workout days and 1,100 to 1,200 calories on workout days. is this too low? probably not but i worry if it s sustainable. 1,200 to 1,600 calories, you re eating enough to get the right nutrition, you don t have fatigue issues, don t get so hungry you feel like you re going to binge. if she feels okay between 1,000 and 1,200 calories it s fine to continue, a personal issue. joy bauer thanks. thanks, savannah. still to come, surviving the college crunch, advice on picking a school that fits your student budget. and everything from fall footwear to personalized party favors. what s that? we ll find out after this. 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[ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. we re gonna have, we re gonna have we re gonna have a good day [ female announcer ] wouldn t it be nice if we focused less on the number and more on how the fit makes us feel? and all my ladies got pride today [ female announcer ] take the special k challenge. drop a jean size in two weeks and slip into size sassy. so many delicious ways to get started at specialk.com. what will you gain when you lose? covergirl trublend has skin twin technology. other makeup can sit on your skin, so it looks like.makeup. but trublend has skin twin technology to actually merge with your skin. how easy breezy beautiful is that? trublend.from covergirl. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i ve always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it s clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you re more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. [ guy ] ring, ring. progresso. i love your new loaded potato with bacon. that s what we like to hear. ring, ring. progresso. .switch our phone service? .no, i think we re pretty happy with our phones. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. hush, little baby don t you cry soon the sun is going to shine [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. walk if i want, talk if i want [ male announcer ] there s the original one. the bigger one. the smaller one. and the one that plugs in. they re all a little different, just like us. give me everything tonight this morning on jill s fun finds all about faction and function. today us weekly contributor jill martin is here with contributions. good morning. what s wrong with you? here is the after, here is the before. let s talk about tights. tights as we are seeing are very cool. we have things for men but we re going to start with women obviously. obviously. the way to change your outfit from day to night through tights. emile yo vavalini and pretty polly have great options between $20 and $30 and amazing way to dress up that little black dress. have fun with your tights. next all weather boots, you need a care this time of year. these are good ones you found? nobody knows how to look chic in the rain. what do i wear? these are $55 available at kohls.com. you don t look like you threw yourself together with these. very preppy. these are an interesting idea. he looic to get our p we still like to get our pedis in the fall. i love the name, bootypies.com. wear them like this on the way to the pedicure, when you re done, push them down. bootypies.com. i love that. socks, you can have a lot of fun with your socks, the moostache socks. always fun to wear a fun pair of socks. i know a lot of men who wear fun socks. al likes to have fun with his socks, he likes the argyle. it s sockittome.com, and 80% of the designs are submitted by consumers so you see the different patterns here and you can really have fun if you have a muss cash it s perfect, for the holidays, there s toast, bicycles, glasses, there s low ones and high ones for boots, $9 for each. good. for your kiddies i love this. okay, this three for the price of two, from spacecadets.com. babies always lose one sock so you have a third and still have your pair. great idea. comes in packs of three. brilliant. i have a million stocks with just one pair left. josh and luke probably a long time ago. exactly. now these little shoes? these are new and unbelievable as a gift and for fall from striderite.com. look at shrek. the little yoda. oh, is that what that is? cookie monster and all of the ones for toddlers and for kids as well. so $28 at stride rite. very cute. next over here to keep their head and fingers warm? matching sets. how cute this, boden usa. a lot of people can t find cases from the iphone 4. casemate.com, water resistant and the monster patterns for kids and adults. when your child says i want to use your iphone everyone s like ahh! what do i do? it s called the woogie, this is griffintechnology.com and it protects your iphone. throw it around and nothing happens. i get a lot of e-mails people saying how do i clean my ipad, my iphone, my itouch. you clean it with a smartcloth. $9.99 to $19.99. any random jane dot-com, write on it, it s reversible, put it in a frame, for kids dress up pictures or give a gift of wine and you can personalize it. personalize it as well, personalized gifts, too? foryourparty.com, napkins, match boxes, we put that there for today show. rubic s coup? i m a big fan, these are coasters. i love this $19.95, spacecadets.com, the the encyclopedia of immaturity how to never grow up, a great gift or how to spice up your party, how to balance a spoon on your nose to how to fake a cold. we all need that at one point in our lives. coming up next, actor producer seth rogen is back to talk about the movie 50/50. flexpen comes pre-filled with the insulin i take and i can dial the exact dose of insulin i need. i live my life on the go and need an on-the-go insulin. i don t need to carry a cooler with flexpen. novolog is a fast-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not inject novolog if you do not plan to eat within 5 to 10 minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect of novolog is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat or sweating. ask your healthcare provider about novolog flexpen today. learn more about the different insulins available in flexpen at myflexpen.com. flexpen, insulin delivery that goes with you. the recommended amounts of whole grain and calcium. that s where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g has the only leading line of kid cereals with at least eight grams of whole grain and a good source of calcium. help them grow up strong with general mills kid cereals. and a good source of calcium. what is that? it burns! it s singeing me! woman: i can t see! it s the sun. get out of the office more often with chili s $6 lunch break combos, featuring texas toast half sandwiches. chili s lunch break combos you can t change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn t close at five ? try nature. it s a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they ll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you re dead. if you re stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. back now two of the stars of the movie 50/50 gordan levy and seth rogen, also producer of the film called 50/50. seth, you fresh off of hosting the fourth hour of the today show, you survived. still recovering i think, yeah, a little piece of me left in there i think, yeah. it was fun. and this a personal story for you because one of your friends will reiser wrote the script, when he developed cancer. six years ago, we had been good friends for a little while, he had a massive tumor in his spine and he got better thank god and afterwards we realized we couldn t think of a movie that kind of represented how we experienced that. he didn t lose his sense of humor, still wanted to go to bars and still dated girls and humor just came from how everyone reacted to what was happening to him, so we thought it would be cool to make a movie that represents our experience. joseph, you may of course his friend the cancer patient. yes. this is a story that there s a lot of comedy, but drama as well involved here. what do you want people to know going to see the ifily tsunami. for me it was an honest story. we weren t trying to make it funnier or sad, just trying to tell the genuine story of what it was like for phil and the humor comes naturally. that s okay. the truth is even in horrible circumstances sometimes horrible things happen. you say the character is the worst version of yourself reacting to these really trying circumstances. yeah. again what we found is like people just don t know what to say and the truth is there is really no right thing to say but what we did, we used humor to deal with it probably because we are comedy writers but laughter is the best medicine. 50/50 opens friday. you know how i feel freedom is mine and i know how i feel and this whole world is a new world and a bold world and i m feeling good more people choose weight watchers than any other weight loss plan in the world. because it works. join for free. that have earned the keurig brewed seal of approval. the keurig brewed seal is our commitment that the coffee inside will deliver a delicious cup of coffee every time. keurig brewed. look for the only mark of genuine keurig quality. live, local, late-breaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. good morning. showers off and on and possibly a thunderstorm again today. fog should burn off a little this afternoon and united pinkoson son, high temperatures around 80 degrees. very little changed on wednesday and thursday. 40% chance of rain. drying on the weekend, sunshine et? i m not gonna write you a love song cause you asked for it cause you need one you see i m not gonna write you a love song that is grammy nominated singer song writer sar sara bareilles, from eureka, california, now a judge on sing-off and will be guest hosting for the today show in our fourth hour. we re going to look at why gender determines which foods we crave and how you can make the right choices maintaining a healthy weight. you re just a meat and potato eater, right? more meat. that s why we all love sweets, too. one of the hardest decisions a lot of families have to make which colleges to send their children to, one of the big questions for parents, of course, is how are we going to pay for it? we ll have some advice on finding the right fit for your student academically and also for you financially. if you re still a parent of the pre-college set like a lot of us are we ll help you choose the best toysor your tots from building sets to hot wheels, the new hot wheel track that goes on the wall, some award-winning toys that our kid and mom approved. natalie and i were talking about, probably going to end up getting that. i have hot wheel tracks all over my house. me, too. really? when you said your son wanted a hot wheel track i said i kind of want it too, it looks cool. there you go, kind of like ours. we are expecting to see plenty of sunshine out west today, it will stay hot there. showers in the pacific northwest, more rain around the great lakes in the northeast as well, tomorrow we ll finally start to see that pesky upper level low moving out but still some rain in the northeast, also down around the gulf coast, southeastern atlantic states, western two-thirds of the country a little on the warm side, plenty of sunshine. good morning. off and on showers. some pretty thick fog this morning. and that s your latest weather. thank you. let s say hello to debbie lounge, first contestant to have the scales tip against her on the biggest loser. good morning. it had to be disappointing but you re continuing the weight logs at home. how is it going? going very well, lost 23, 25 pounds and working out five to six days a week at joust fitness in ann arbor with my trainer melissa, pushing me just as hard as anna did. we wanted to ask you, because anna kournikova is the new judge. she saw things i didn t see in myself. she told me i was an athlete and i didn t appreciate it until i got off the show and i realized what she meant, what i was capable of doing. you re getting ared to run a marathon. i am. did you ever think you d be doing that? never in life, no, no, i never did but i m up for it and i may have to take some knee pads with me or some roller skates or something but i m going to complete the marathon and i m getting really excited about it. you re running, getting your mileage up there? i am, i am, not running, i m jogging, i m jogging, at best walking. you can probably beat my time so that s your one thing. i ll think about you when i m out there. that s good. it s an at home competition, you re off the show but still have an opportunity to win a big prize. i do. that s another thing melissa and i will work on after we finish training me for the marathon is focus on the weight loss. i ve had a tremendous change in my body already so i m looking forward to it. looking great. goal weight of 160. that s it. this is the lowest i ve been in my adult life. debbie, you re always a winner. thank you, i m a loser. the biggest loser, the battle of the ages airs tonight at 8:00, 7:00 central on abc. coming up what you eat apparently is gender specific. as it is delicious. (woman) the flavor is fantastic. (man) that s turkey? this is amazing! it s juicy. (man #2) it s very surprising, the flavor is really good. (man #3) i think people will love it. (ancr) enjoy your burgers cooked thoroughly to 165 degrees. i gotta get some of these. it s time for a better burger. so get on board and make the switch. look for jennie-o at a store near you and join us at switchtoturkey.com. that didn t just hide your breakouts. but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that s beautiful. neutrogena®. [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ laughs ] that s awesome. you can read that? [ female announcer ] the accufit digital system, exclusively at lenscrafters. is about 5 times more precise than manual measurement techniques. lenscrafters. than manual measurement techniques. uh oh. i gotta go. 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[ male announcer ] hidden valley ranch. mix it up. from centrum. omega-3s go beyond heart health. probiotics go beyond digestive balance. and fruit & veggie has antioxidant properties. new pronutrients from centrum. help make nutrition possible. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. this morning on tooled s health the role gender plays in our diet, one of the main reasons why women supposedly crave chocolate and we men supposedly prefer meat. here with insight today diet and nutrition editor madelyn fernstrom and psychiatrist dr. gayle saults. i don t know, the whole theory, i think if you look at people, do they really all fall intocat? really in nature biology plays a role. when you re trying to lose weight your gender with k make a difference. there are stereotypes of difference but nowadays behavior trumps a lot of the biological issues gayle when we talk about gender-specific foods what are some of the examples? in this country overall, men tend to be bigger meat eaters, and women tend to be bigger sweet eaters, and there are several reasons for this. evolutionarily, it may that be men were the hunters, the reward was meat, they needed the bigger muscle mass so they needed to eat more meat and women were back at home and the treat sorts of things if you will was more okay for them. but now i would say we ve evolved into the stereotypes where it s manly to have a big steak and it s feminine to eat a bag of chocolate kisses. right. and maybe it s harder to make the crossover because it feels like you re giving up a bit of your gender if you do that. madelyn, is there a biological component to this? there is a biological component but that s only in survival mode. when we were hunter/gatherers, men would hunt and it would be meat is the reward. in supermarkets food is everywhere so it s important to switch this around and behavior is going to override most of the biological signals. there may be some biological differences still, men s and women s brains are wired different. a beer for instance might be more appealing for a womaman, b the pinks could me might be more appealing. men like fat/salty combinations, and women the sweet/fat. notice the combination with fat. a guy goes out and orders a fish and salad, they re thinking what s up with you and a woman orders a steak, people think what s up with her. maybe you re trying to be on a diet, trying to lower your cholesterol so a salad or fish is a good thing to order but if you re feeling the guy also give you a hard time or even if they aren t giving you a hard time but in your head your own voice is saying this doesn t feel very manly you re not going to order that. it has nothing to do with how manly with how you are. i argue it s more manly to take control of your diet how do you incorporate it to make sure you re eating a healthy lifestyle? there is discomfort. so people eat for taste. you have to like it. you have to retrain yourself to say it s fine, everyone should have fruits and vegetables, man or not. women who need two iron and b12 could use a little red meat. not locked into this but be open and be an omnivore, eat of all of the good foods. like in a family people want their kids to be better eaters. if dad is eating a big steak and mom is always on a diet. you have to think of putting gender in a life enjoyable to you. plate sharing. chop some wood, al, and then have some fish. i ll find a forest right now. dr. gail saltz and madelyn fernstrom. coming up we ll help you answer some college questions after these messages. so fresh my knees grow weak inspired by fine chefs in rome gourmet soups you make at home [ male announcer ] introducing new bertolli frozen meal soup for two. like chicken minestrone with crisp vegetables, white meat chicken, al dente pasta. 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[ female announcer ] you always went for the tall, dark, handsome types. so who d have ever thought the love of your life. would be short and bald? having a baby changes everything. if you think occasional irregularity is no big deal, think twice. it may be a sign that your digestive system could be working better. listen to this with occasional irregularity, things your body doesn t use could be lingering in your system, causing discomfort. but activia has been shown in clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when consumed 3 times per day. 7 out of 10 doctors recommend activia. and the great taste is recommended by me! ything i needed to lose weight right in my hands. sophomore year, started weight watchers online, the weight started coming off. ahh! oh my gosh! [ laughs ] we re college kids, we go out all the time. having my food tracker on my phone, i can figure out what i m having at the restaurant. i lost 73 pounds with weight watchers online. i don t think i ve ever smiled this much in my whole life. it kind of hurts my cheeks. [ female announcer ] join for free today. hurry, offer ends october 15th. weight watchers online. finally, losing weight clicks. education nation today is proudly brought to you by university of phoenix, because we believe an educated world is a better world. this morning on education nation choosing the right college. for students it s about the classes and campus and for parents it s about affordability. how do you sort it out? janet shamlian is a mother of father facing college soon so we sent her on the campus tour. reporter: it can feel a little like being in college again yourself. welcome to the university of michigan. do you give credit for a.p. test scores? reporter: a walk around the ivy colored walls. this is how schools like the university of michigan put their best foot forward to attract new students. this area is called the diad. reporter: from the cafeteria food to the dorm rooms. this is your pretty average size student double. reporter: it s a full blown sales job, start to finish. see this big building here the michigan student union. reporter: first impressions generally come from school websites which offer the basics on how many students are enrolled, what type of specialty is offered and social activities, and the big one for parents, how much does it cost? how much of a factor is financial aid, scholarship, all of those money decisions? well, it s huge certainly, needs-based scholarships and academic scholarships certainly play a big part in any decision. reporter: to narrow is down students and their families visit an average of three or four schools. there s college students walking around and it just feels like a campus. reporter: parents like harry and carol want input but want the decision to be their daught daughters. trying to point her in the general direction. reporter: alina knows the decision is hers. at the end of the day it comes down to fit. reporter: that s assuming you are submitted to the school you love. how many applications do you think you ll get this year? around 40,000. ted spencer is director of admissions. 80% generally end up in enrollment. reporter: studies show most students make their choices based on a school s academic reputation and this all important visit. academic rigor is really one of the top things that i look at in a school and the food has to be great because i do like to eat a lot. reporter: it s a decision that can be a nail-biter for both students and parents, selecting a school, and then hoping it selects you. looking forward to applying and seeing if i get accepted. reporter: for today, janet shamlian, nbc news, ann arbor. jacques steinberg senior of the new york times education blog. good morning. there are some questions every student and parent should ask when examining colleges. the first on your list is academic rigor. what do you mean by that? how intense an academic experience are you seeking? make sure you re not going in too far over your head if you re in the necessarily a great scholar maybe the university of chicago might not be the best fit for you. a lot of this is feel. i know your next tip is to think about location, location, location, because not every school is for every student obviously. there are huge differences in terms of the size of the class, the size of the freshman class and also whether you re in a rural or an urban set so long you really have to ask yourself what sort of experience are you seeking in that regard. another issue of course is curriculum. does the school offer the classes i m interested in? sure, lots of kids don t know going into college what exactly they want to study and i think it s important to know that it s okay to not know what you want to study but if you are really interested in marine biology you should probably make sure the college you re applying to actually offers that. for a lot of parents this is issue number one, cost. sure, i mean, college is more expensive every year, some colleges are cutting back on financial aid. you really need to understand the two kinds of financial aid, need-based aid which is obviously based on your family s ability to pay and merit aid which may not be based on aid but on what sort of student you are and what sort of talent you have. the last tip is a tough one. you have to be realistic about whether you can get into the college of your dreams. i don t want kids to sort of sort themselves out of particular colleges, leave that to the admissions office. you have no idea what exactly they re looking for. you may be pleasantly surprised. on the other hand, if your s.a.t. scores or a.c.t. scores are well below the range in a particular college, you want to be realistic. i want to at least know is there something else you might offer to that school that they might find appealing but also can you handle the work. jacques steinberg, thank you. coming up next, award winning toys for kids of all ages, they re here in the studio but first this is today on incoming. nbc. this morning on parenting today the best toys for all ages, the op.en heim toy portfolio is handing out its 2011 platinum awards. stephanie op.en heim is here to unveil some of the winners, kid tested mom approved. absolutely. let s unveil the winners starting off with the toddler toys. what should we look for, for toys in this age group? this is my favorite day of the year because we are launching our awards for toddlers, looking for things for all ages that are fun, engaging but also age appropriate. this toddler tower from international playthings is perfect, it s safe enough, the balls are big enough. toddlers love to do things they can do again and again which breanna is doing perfectly. it builds her sense of confidence. this is peek-a-shoe. drop the ball in, where does it go? not the green, oh, it s under, there it is so you re talking about color concepts in a real way. and little dolls are always great. the puppets are great for preschoolers. for them you want to be encouraging pretend play which helps them develop language skills, underpinning for being great readers and writers later on. this is a new puppet sent from manhattan toy, there s jake and enjoying the puppets, and i love these new puppets from north american bear, so cute, nesting puppets and you want your kids to retell the story, important for them to tell the stories in sequence. jake likes the little pigs. and to be creative as well. what are some favorites as well, the platinum winners in every age group, every price range. a huge trend if i was going to talk about one innovative toy it would be the leappad explorer, the graphics are wonderful. this is a better choice than handing you have your own ipad. it s developmentally appropriate for your child. glasks will please the most savvy 4-year-old, 100 app games to add to them depending on where they are in school, the built in cam camera, video cam, $99 you can t beat that. games the big trends as well. more big game winners, this is obstacles from eboo, you need to get from point a to point b and be silly. i love the new connect four, we were playing this with the launching pads. the girls are playing. we ve all played very good we all played connect four vertically. hasbro added launchers so it s a little tiddly winks game, too. adults have been playing with it, i like it. this is tic-tac-turn from briar patch, you play on three dimensions and you can turn it to block someone from getting four in a row. challenging game to play. the number one requested kit from our testers and the boys are working on the new alien mothership. excuse me for one second. the big news about this is that it has a rotary piece. lego zoonne. big alienate sound. more importantly because my kids are all over this and want this already. i dreamed of having this toy. stick them up on the wall. let s run it down the track. how cool is that? 100 more toys on the website. check out toyportfolio.com. singer song writer sara