Monthly Archives: April 2012

April 30, 2012

Meditation for the Busy College Graduate

Meditation can be tricky. For many students today, it’s something that’s often overlooked, but medical study after study show the positive benefits of meditation.

So how do you start this habit? It’s not too late. Even if you’re a graduating senior about ready for graduation this Spring, starting on this healthy habit takes just 2 minutes a day.

Today’s post focuses on a post from ZenHabits.net on Meditation (link)

One of my favorite tips from the post is about finding a daily trigger that will be your cue to start meditation. “The trigger should be something you already do regularly, like drink your first cup of coffee, brush your teeth, have lunch, or arrive home from work.”

Do you already meditate?  Let us know your tips!

And lastly, if you haven’t already, make sure to order your graduation stoles soon.  Average shipping time for graduation stoles is 3 weeks so if you’re graduating in mid-May or June now would be the time to do so to save on shipping costs!

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minoru_ntt/3290970519/

April 30, 2012

College Cooking Tip: Keeping Bread Fresh Longer

Eating healthy and being in college don’t always go hand in hand. That said, often times the toughest part of eating healthy is keeping your refridgerator well stocked. But what happens when your sandwich meats, breads, and staples go bad?

Today’s post features an article from Lifehacker that talks bout how to revive stale bread. What did they use? Ice cubes!

The tip?
“Real Simple suggests rubbing an ice cube on unsliced bread until the crust is damp. Then put that roll or loaf in the oven for 12 minutes at 370° F and voila! It’s almost like freshly baked bread.”

Try it out and let us know how it is. On another note though, that moldy cheese in the refridgerator, you should probably toss that.

Check out the full post here http://lifehacker.com/5905805/revive-stale-bread-with-ice-cubes

Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/teuobk/2104039823/

April 23, 2012

Is Business School Worth it for Entrepreneurs?

Today’s blog post highlights grad school (specific business school) and if it’s worth it for entrepreneurs. One of our favorite web sites, Inc.com takes a look into the pros and cons and more importantly provides some recommendations for those interested in an MBA after graduation.

One of the most interesting tips was
“Base all your electives and classes around a startup idea or thesis. Every course or elective you take should help you launch a company.” – I couldn’t agree with this more. Even in undergrad, when you were able to apply your learnings to student organizations, your job, or a start-up, it made the course that much more rewarding.  And in the fraternity and sorority setting, when you were given the opportunities to do things that excited you, didn’t that real world experience translate even more to your positive memories?

Go check out the full post here and let us know what you think:

http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/entrepreneurs-make-business-school-pay-off.html

Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/buenosairesprensa/5738441386/

April 19, 2012

Learning to Speak A New Language

Learning how to speak a new language becomes increasingly difficult as you grow older. Not only is free time harder to find as you juggle school, work or family life, but mentally the ease of which you tend to pick up new languages naturally slows down.

Today’s post features tips from a recent lifehacker.com article.

Most noteably, stage 3 seems the most fun.

“Stage 3: Listening, writing and reading work
You should read and watch anything that’s enjoyable to you—it’s more about quantity than anything; I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter series in translation, and dubbed versions of the TV series 24 are insanely addictive and not that difficult to follow after the first few hours—you can literally spend all day in front of the TV, and it’s actually productive! ”

Now does this mean watching Hunger Games in French counts?

Eitherway, if you’re considering picking up a new language either for personal enjoyment or as a skill to add to your resume. Check out the full post and more info here:

http://lifehacker.com/5903288/i-learned-to-speak-four-languages-in-a-few-years-heres-how

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nataliemaynor/1094701141/

April 17, 2012

Saving money on carry-on luggage fees

With the end of the school year just around the corner, it’s like you’ve booked a flight home or possibly a summer vacation. Last week, another one of the last low-cost airlines decided to change how they charge for carry-on luggage. http://articles.boston.com/2012-04-03/travel/31282210_1_baggage-fees-carry-on-luggage-overhead-bins Now they’ll charge for use of the overhead bin.

So how does that work then? Yep, unless your luggage fits in front of your feet it’s likely you’ll have to pay for it. Hopefully other airlines won’t follow suit too soon.

So what tips are there for students to save money when flying? WiseBread has a great article on it. The tip we like the most is “Hold It! Don’t Fold It”

The article states “Stacked clothes always leave peaks and valleys in a bag, and those areas waste valuable space. Rolled clothes wrinkle less, compress better, distribute volume more evenly, and ultimately use space more efficiently.”

For more tips, visit the full article at http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-avoid-new-carry-on-luggage-charges

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toasty/2619866851/

April 14, 2012

Dealing with Bad Neighbors in College & The Dorms

Dealing with bad or noisy neighbors is not a fun thing. In college, often if you’re stuck with bad neighbors in the dorms, apartments, or the next house down, it’s often very unlikely they’ll leave. Students sign year long leases and RAs are very unlikely to transfer roommates around unless something major has occurred.

So what’s the best way to address this? Many people say building that bond and knowing neighbors on a first name basis early is important so that when issues do arise, it’ll be much easier to speak to them about it.

Another way is through this Annoying Neighbor Complaint Form:
Yes, it’s exactly like it sounds, a passive-aggressive form that is easy for you to fill out and submit to neighbors.

http://lifehacker.com/5901643/let-your-annoying-neighbors-know-how-you-feel-with-this-simple-complaint-form

So give it a try and let us know if it works!

This picture has no relevance at all to the post, it just looked so delicious.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/6663858147/

April 13, 2012

Video Game Breaks

I remember when growing up, video games was the best way to destress. Back then, at most there were GameBoys that you could bring around, or you’d be locked down to your home TV and the SNES, N64, or Sega.

Now, it seems as if games are everywhere. But if anything, many games are less engaging. It’s about completing a quick Angry Birds level, or a Draw Something phrase… if you have a smartphone, you have a mobile game.

But when was the last time you sat back and just unwinded and played some video games?

LifeHacker has an interesting article about blowing off the dust on your game console or upgrading your computer so that you can play the most recent games.

So if it’s raining (like it is in LA today), maybe sitting back to some video games isn’t such a bad idea?

Full post here: http://lifehacker.com/5901898/take-a-break-and-play-some-video-games-this-weekend

*Disclaimer: Make sure you don’t play too many video games or get addicted where your grades start suffering in your last year in high school or college! Shameless plug: And order your graduation sashes if you haven’t already ;)

April 12, 2012

Graduation & College Tips for First Generation College Students

Earlier this week TIME published an interesting article that goes into discussing the challenges that first-generation college students face. The article discusses in concern some less than stellar statistics inculding

“More than a quarter of low-income first-generation college students leave after their first year, and 89 percent fail to graduate within six years.”

Luckily, the article does go into providing some tips. One of the tips that struck a cord with me was the second one.
Second: Figure out the unwritten rules. First-generation college students don’t simply lack the learning of their more privileged peers.

I couldn’t agree with this more. Part of learning the unwritten rules for me during undergrad was to join like minded student organizations. There upperclassmen merged with freshmen and helped them. Some organizations also have mentorship programs where seniors take freshmen under their wings and try to help them out.

For the full article, visit Time.com or click this link here.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabor-roeder/6108541885/

April 10, 2012

How Distracting is Facebook?

It’s no question that Facebook can be distracting and detrimental to your studies. While back in the day, video games were the main way students procrastinated with studies, now the Internet provides additional mediums of entertainment.  Everything from YouTube, to Netflix, Hulu, mobile Apps, Instagram, Pinterest, blogs, and much more.

According to a new study that involved 300 middle school, high school and college students, most of their distractions came from technology, often in the form of notifications.

What exactly does that mean?

To cite the study, “First, these students were only able to focus and stay on task for an average of three minutes at a time and nearly all of their distractions came from technology.”  three whole minutes!

“Not surprisingly those who stayed on task longer and had study strategies were better students. The worst students were those who consumed more media each day and had a preference for working on several tasks at the same time and switching back and forth between them.”

You can read about the full study here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201204/attention-alert-study-distraction-reveals-some-surpris

So what’s that mean?  Maybe around finals time it wouldn’t hurt to disable facebook or install internet blocking applications that disable access to entertainment oriented web sites..

Good luck on finals and we hope to see you at graduation! Also if you’re graduating in May and have not already ordered your graduation sashes, order soon to save on shipping!

April 9, 2012

Bike Theft at college Campuses

Bike theft is a big problem on college campuses. I remember for myself during undergrad, I was lucky enough to not get my bike stolen. My friends were not as lucky though. Even though we had identical u-locks and stored them in similar places, often times theives would get to these bikes, and before you know it you’re 2 or 3 bikes deep before graduation comes around because theives have stole your bikes.

So what’s the work around for all of this?
Wonder How To has a really interesting tutorial that shows you how to create a tilt sensor. How does it work? Well when your bike is moved at all, the sensor ends up going off.

Enough of a deterant to stop theives? You tell us!