by brianne on January 21, 2010
Believe it or not, your near-empty bank account is a gift in the dating world.
Scratch fancy restaurant dinners and over-priced tickets to the movies– how dull, unoriginal, and expensive. An excessive amount of money makes it altogether too easy to use elaborate, meaningless gestures to try and “woo” someone. As it turns out, what you lack in money you can make up for (and then some) in thoughtfulness and creativity.
Ideas to wake up your (cheap) inner romantic:
- Get lost in a records store. Sharing music together is always a memorable experience. Most music stores have a means for listening to the music for free, so enjoy the vast possibilities of the music selection. Show him/her some of your favorites, listen to some of theirs, and then find new music you both like together. This is a great date for getting to know each other, because typically you can tell a lot by someone’s taste in music. Plus, take note of their favorite bands/artists for the days when you have a slightly bigger bank account and can afford to take your date out to a concert– always a winner for the music-lover. As for ideas that fit with a budget, you can make the memory last longer by making a classic “mixed tape” or CD with all the songs you already own that you noticed they liked when you showed them at the store.
- Go for a personal picnic. First, figure out your date’s ideal location. Is it a lookout spot with a view of the mountains or the city? A big quiet field? A charming park? Also, pay attention to his/her favorite snacks and drinks and bring them with. Peach Snapple Ice Tea? Hot apple cider? Dr. Pepper? Chocolate chip cookies? Pita bread and humus? Strawberries? It’s easy to get snacks and drinks for two for cheap. Noticing the details shows you care and makes the date much more than a cliche picnic.
- Explore the arts. A lot of cities have days where you can visit galleries and museums for free. I know that both Portland and Seattle do this every first Thursday of the month. Research things like this that your city has to offer– local events like art walks, craft markets, food fairs, concerts in the park… Usually local events are cheap and unique to the town/city they’re in, which makes for a fun time that’s different from a typical date.
- Teach together, learn together. What does your date like to do for fun? What do you like to do for fun? Have days dedicated to showing the other a piece of your world. If you like photography, take your date out shooting pictures with you. Introduce him/her to the basics and let them give it a try. If your date likes soccer, go to a soccer game together or play a little one-on-one and let them teach you a thing or two. By developing an appreciate for each others’ interests and hobbies, you’ll grow closer and find many more activities to enjoy together.
Remember, it really is the thought that counts.
Mixed tapes and picnics have all been done many, many times before. The key to making these inexpensive options special and memorable is by personalizing them to fit your date. This means all these suggestions are a starting place to get you thinking, but you’ll have to take each one and personalize it with the things you know your date likes and you’re good to go.
by Brittany on January 20, 2010
There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Or, maybe it’s just a bad case of human hygiene. I’ve noticed that the dorms have started to smell like congested air and humans. I guess there is logic to that, but it’s not a pleasant scent. Here is a process to deal with your room when it starts smelling like rotten cabbage. Or worse.
Taking care of stench 101
- Your first step is to go to the source. Check your fridge, garbage cans, closet. Solve the mystery of the undesired odor. If it’s rotten food, throw it out. Take out the garbage. Put smelly sneakers outside.
- Open the windows and in doing so, continue the process of removing the odor. Getting some ventilation will definitely help, and a fan wouldn’t hurt either to give the odor a little push out the window, never to be smelt again.
- If you need to clean out your fridge or closet, do so by removing all contents necessary to clean, and scrub with a soap and water mixture. Dry by pressing a towel or several paper towels on the wet areas, blotting up the mixture with the towels.
- If the odor persists, place an uncovered bowl of baking soda, either dry or mixed with water, in the space and take away the bowl after three days if the odor has gone. If there is something in the carpet you can sprinkle the baking soda on the designated area, and vacuum it up after an hour or more. Using baking soda is one of the more practical and ideal options for cleaning up odors in college dorm rooms. Baking soda will remove the unwanted odors from the air.
- Continue the cycle of taking out the garbage, updating food in the fridge once it expires, doing laundry, keeping a clean closet, and whatever else causes unwanted odors. Oh the possibilities.
by Brittany on January 20, 2010
Getting inside the mind of a scholarship winner
I’ve been researching the qualities and attributes of scholarship recipients from scholarship search services such as Fast Web and College Board, and I’ve noticed that there is something different about these students. It’s not that they are home schooled individuals who went to bed dreaming about The Golden Ratio, or didn’t have any friends growing up because they were overly dedicated to their schoolwork. No, that’s a stereotype. What I am talking about are scholarship recipients, who are creative, innovative, out-of-the-box thinkers. These kinds of people will thrive in our culture, because everyone is looking for new ideas so that their business can become bigger, better and more established.
You are a creative, innovative, out-of-the-box thinker
Don’t look over your shoulder, I’m talking to you. Education is one of the ways that shapes us as individuals, shaping an extent of our identity. Be it Math, English, Web Design, Linguistics, or Biology, the ways in which we learn as well as the content we learn expands our mind and teaches us to think differently. A math major will look at the world differently than an English major and a student majoring in Web Design will look at the world differently than a student majoring in Biology. And beyond our education, there is experience which is dense and inevitable. Are you getting my point? We are all unique individuals, just like Mr. Rogers probably said, and we each bring something different to the table. When applying for a scholarship, being set apart is the key. Whether the set-apart-ness is big or small. But we don’t have any excuses if we think we are inept to fulfill this duty. Here’s how to get that free money:
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Answer the question and follow the instructions.
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Be real, and add your own experience to what you decide to write on.
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Be original.
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Be grammatically correct.
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Know that you have a chance.
- Think before you write. Brainstorm some good ideas and create an outline to help you get going.
- Show what you are trying to say through stories and examples, individualizing your essay while demonstrating the point you want to make.
- Know your audience.
- Develop a theme. Don’t simply list all your achievements. Decide on a theme you want to convey that sums up the impression you want to make. Write about experiences that develop that theme.
What the scholarship givers look for:
- A positive and confident attitude
- A clear definition of who you are and who you want to be
- An assessment of your top skills
And here is what NOT to do. And here’s some more of what not to do.
by Brittany on January 18, 2010
Did tedious just become easier?
That’s what three members of the Department of Education in September 2009 explained to hundreds of high school counselors who gathered in Baltimore to hear the changes being made to the Free Application for Financial Student Aid. Hey, that applies to us! The Obama Administration announced the changes in June and they have been in effect since the beginning of this month.
Some Facts on the 2010 FAFSA
- The online application, which previously asked for more than 150 questions, now asks 22 fewer questions
- The applicant will be led to 17 less web screens than they would have in 2009
- Applications online for the FAFSA must be submitted by midnight Central Daylight time, June 30, 2010
- Corrections made to the application must be submitted online by midnight Central Daylight Time, September 21, 2010
- The online form is now more organized into categories such as, “student demographics,” “parent demographics,” “basic eligibility” and “dependency status”
- Once an applicant has filled out the application online, it will give an estimate of the student’s Pell Grant, giving them a figure of their eligibility for student loans
- Students who are married or are over 23 can skip over a section of parent finance questions that no longer apply to them
- Low income students no longer have to go through questions of assets that are irrelevant to their situation
- Students who are applying for aid in the spring 2010 quarter are able to upload their IRS tax data directly into the online FAFSA forms
- Full summary of changes on the FAFSA
by Brittany on January 15, 2010
Bon Appetite!
It is Friday and with Fridays come good times. Looking forward to the weekend ahead (a three day weekend, I might add), an adventure in the kitchen could not only be satisfying to your appetite, but quite entertaining. I have some suggestions for your time spent in the kitchen which includes eating, lots of flour, and your favorite pop music of the 90s. Don’t forget to share this with someone special. Particularly someone who also enjoys *NSYNC, the boy band’s first album, self titled, which came out in 1998. Er, I mean someone who also enjoys your favorite pop band.
A Classy Kitchen Experience
- First of all, a good cooking atmosphere requires the right kind of music. Tune your Pandora station to classical music.
- First Course: Butternut Squash soup
- Second Course: Bruschetta with tomato and basil
- Third Course: Caesar Salad
- Preparation for the Fourth Course: As it is cooking, partake in a game of Scrabble, cards, or Ticket to Ride (a great board game)
- Fourth Course: Three Cheese Tortellini with Garlic Green Beans on the side
- Fifth Course: Bake a pie.
- Finish the cooking experience with Julie & Julia. The lives of Julie, a blogging wife living in Queens with a passion for cooking, and Julia Childs, the famous Chef known for her cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” are set side by side in this film when the pressures of cooking test the lives of both Julie and Julia.
A Kid-like Kitchen Experience
- Music: Your favorite greatest and worst pop band of the 90s
- First Course: Top Ramen. So many flavors, so many possibilities.
- Second Course: Muddy Buddies, also known as Puppy Chow
- Third Course: Garden Salad with fish crackers sprinkled on top
- Preparation for the Fourth Course: While waiting for the entree, play a game of Sorry! or Trouble.
- Fourth Course: Baked Macaroni & Cheese with baked French Bread
- Fifth Course: Banana Split
- Sixth Course: Have a flour fight.
- Make the experience complete by watching Ratatouille. The tale of a rat with a desire to become a chef, but struggles through an industry that is rodent-phobic.
by Brittany on January 13, 2010
There are several different ways to pay for college…
Deb: Um, hello. Would you like to look like this?
[holds out a photo]
Napoleon Dynamite: [Napoleon takes the photo and looks at it] This is a girl.
Deb: [Deb continues nervously] Because for a limited time only, Glamour Shots by Deb are 75% off.
Napoleon Dynamite: I already get my hair cut at the Cuttin’ Corral.
Deb: Well, maybe you’d be interested in some home-woven handicrafts?
[Scene continues after Rex Kwon Do TV ad Kip's watching]
Deb: … And here we have some boondoggle key chains. A must-have for this season’s fashion.
Napoleon Dynamite: I already made like infinity of those at scout camp. Deb: I’m trying to earn money for college.
Though making home-woven handicrafts would be quite fun, you don’t have to earn money for college the way Deb chose to. There are other options.
- Join an on campus group that offers free room & board. A great option for anyone with great leadership abilities who wants to be involved. For example, a Residential Advisor. Look into the benefits of positions on campus that are related to residential life and food services.
- Attend your campus wide Job Fair: Bring a resume, dress well, and pay for college by working it off through an on or off campus job .
- The Summer Melt is an opportunity few know about. It’s the time right before fall term when students resign their spots in a university, thus resigning their scholarship money. Writing a letter to your financial aid office asking for more money doesn’t hurt, and usually helps.
- Write a killer scholarship essay, and use it for multiple scholarship entries. Kill multiple birds with just one sweet stone.
- Join a free scholarship search service such as Fast web, College Board’s Scholarship Search or Sallie Mae and let them find scholarships for you to apply for.
- Using Advanced Placement credits towards college means super cheap college credit.
- Have the government cancel all or part of your educational loans by qualifying for loan forgiveness. To qualify for loan forgiveness you must match the criteria specified by the forgiveness program which can include community service, joining the armed services, and teaching or practicing medicine in certain types of communities.
- Seek out jobs that pay your college tuition. Three national companies that assist employees towards their education are UPS, FedEx and Home Depot.
- If you’ve got a knack for writing, or just have things to say that would be useful in any way to others, create a blog and make money through advertisement placed on your website.
- Host an event (more likely if you are living in a house) and organize a house show with the musicians on campus, or host a Scrabble tournament with incentives. The suggested donation for attending should be posted as anywhere from $1 to $1,000,000.
Save Save Save
- Accelerate your degree by getting yourself into an accelerated degree program, which cram a semester’s worth of content into a shorter amount of time. In an accelerated degree program, tuition is about half the price of a traditional degree program, while encompassing a greater intensity of work.
- Bulk up on transfer credits! During the summer, enroll in classes at a community college that will transfer to your university and save you a whole lot of money.
- Consider transferring into your preferred university after two years, if it is more expensive, while going somewhere else at first. Doing this will allow you to still gain the benefits of your chosen university while also taking away a diploma from the college of preference.
- Create a budget to calculate the money you spend on coffee, late night fast food runs and other things that are unnecessary. Being able to track your money will help you save and spend responsibly.
- Keep coupons of local grocery stores and follow weekly sales, avoiding expensive grocers.
by Brittany on January 11, 2010
If there is one thing I know…
It is that a bad grade on a test is not the worst thing. But with these tips, you won’t need to worry about that.
- Adopt study strategies that worked for you in the past, and stick with them.
- Know your professor and what they did on tests prior. Whether it’s thinking back to tests you’ve taken with them or talking to students who took the course before you, figure out what the methods to their madness are.
- Look at how you did on tests in the past in the same course. What did you do well on? What did you not do so well on? Studying this information can save you time, and allow you to study exactly what it is you struggle with.
- The day before the test, when your head is clear, make a list of all the materials you need to bring with you and make sure to arrive early. Hurrying will make you feel rushed and unprepared.
- Be confident and relax. If you feel anxious, take several deep breaths and remind yourself that you have prepared well and will do well. On your way to the test don’t talk to other students about the test, it will only make you more nervous.
- Read the directions on the test carefully. This is obvious, but essential!
- If there is time when you are finished, quickly run through your work and make sure everything is completed and you have done all that you can.
- Strategically answer the questions. To work up your confidence, answer the easiest questions first with the least point value to lead you to the more difficult questions that will have been worked for. For essay tests, broadly outline your answer and then put it into an essay format.
- On essay tests, make sure to have a strong beginning sentence, and to start each of your body paragraphs with key points from your introduction.
- Don’t rush to leave the class the moment you’ve finished your test. Go back and review vocabulary, grammar and/or mismarked questions. There is a tendency of feeling rushed once others have completed their tests and are leaving the classroom, but don’t give in!
by Brittany on January 11, 2010
A few definitions
- de-sert [di-zurt] v. – to leave without the intention of returning
- des-sert [di-zurt] n. – a sugary treat, served as the last course of a meal
Just so you know, I’m not posting this because the holidays have just ended and it probably wouldn’t hurt for us all to lose a few lbs. I’m posing the question because I too am in a position where dessert is always around in the college cafeteria, and if I had no self-control I would probably have it every day, after every meal. But that probably wouldn’t be the wisest idea. People always wonder how to keep from gaining the freshman fifteen, and this is it people. And maybe we could all benefit from shortening our sweet tooth cravings, by not only heightening our enjoyment every so often when we do have dessert, but also by putting a halt to the gluttonous tendencies we enjoy so much.
Some Alternatives
Here are a few ways that you could cut your dessert intake. Self-control required.
- Why, fruit of course! The natural sugars in fruit are a surrogate dessert for cakes and ice cream and pies, oh my.
- Tea. Whether by itself or with sugar and the works. Use your imagination – a vanilla rooibos tea is comparable to a slice of vanilla cake… Like I said, use your imagination.
- Instead of cutting out sweets all together, maybe constrain yourself to eating dessert only on the weekends, when sugar is used as a medium for social gatherings. You wouldn’t want to miss out on meeting someone new because you’re avoiding sweets, would you?
- Use sweets as a motivator to accomplish daunting tasks, and not to self medicate. Food, including sweets, are known to have a happy effect or a fulfilling meaning in someone’s life. But that’s actually an unhealthy way to treat food and to treat yourself. When you have a project to finish, use a wonderful piece of Dove Dark Chocolate with Almond to represent the finish line. And during those times when you need a pick-me-up, instead of eating sweets to feel good, read a book or watch a movie with friends instead. Or have an adventure.
- Eat a bowl of cereal instead. My favorites are Oatmeal Squares and Special K.
by Brittany on January 8, 2010
TGIF
Big shocker, it’s raining in Seattle today. As my roommate Jenny and I were looking out of the large cafeteria
windows at lunch, we were pondering fun activities to do in the rain. The clever child that lives within her helped me come up with these great activities. That is where this list spawned from…
Did I mention my rule?
No studying on Friday nights. It’s an obligation and I have no way out of it. I know, it’s really lame. I wish I could study on Friday nights, but I have no choice. I hope I am having an impression on you. And I hope you are catching my sarcasm. Is that allowed via web?
The best things in life are free
- Puddle Jumping
- Play some sort of group activity in the rain i.e. frisbee or soccer
- Make grass angels (long grass is preferable)
- Take pictures of people wearing quirky rain boots
- Count how many raindrops you can catch in your mouth
- Watch movies that have anything to do with rain whether it be the title or a particular scene i.e. Singing in the Rain, The Notebook, Garden State
- Dance
- Read indoors, preferably next to a large window with a warm drink (see #10)
- Take a walk
- Drink Hot Chocolate and add flavors like vanilla, cinnamon, orange, almond and peppermint
- Play fun word games i.e. speed Scrabble or Mad Gab
Write haikus about the rain (5-7-5)- Do crafts
- Make a stop motion video
- If you live in a dorm, knock on everyone’s door and get a large group of people to do this list with
by Brittany on January 8, 2010
If I leave, will I ever go back?
This may be the attitude of some, contemplating the realm of taking a year off of college. Taking a year off is easier said than done. There are a lot of logistics to figure out, but in the end it could be worth it. But for students who think that continuing school is the best option, here is a list of pros and cons to why students should keep going. Or, in other words, why students shouldn’t take a year off.
Pros: Not taking a year off
1. The sooner you are finished, the sooner you can begin. Your career, that is. This is the typical way that students do things. College leads to degree which leads to career.
2. During school there is a subconscious state called the ‘zone.’ Students in college get into this said ‘zone’ and with it comes determination and habit. By continuing through college until you receive your degree, you don’t have to worry much about breaking concentration or feeling ‘dry’ in terms of knowing how college life goes. Continuing all the way through college doesn’t risk the chances of feeling like you took a step backwards.
3. Graduate with the people in your class! This is something that is important to some, and insignificant to others. Graduation is a memorable ceremony where students can look back on their years in college and meditate on the past and future. Graduating with the people who you grew up with, the people you became adults with, is something that seems like a special opportunity to have.
4. Similarly to taking a year off to gain experience or take a break from college, students at many schools have the opportunity of studying abroad while receiving credit at the same time. This is a great alternative for anyone seeking new surroundings, while continuing the college process and experience.
Cons: Not taking a year off
1. One of the main reasons that students take a year off of college is to take a break and relax, while still being productive. Not taking a year off, for students who are in need of it, could be detrimental to their work ethic and cause them to be burned out.
