The Geeky College Girl

I've moved!

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:29:00 -0800

The site has moved to http://sheisgeeky.wordpress.com/.

Bear with my as I change the Wordpress theme and put all my old stuff on Posterous onto the new website.

Valentine's Day Gift and Steve Madden Boots

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:41:00 -0800

(I'm slowly moving to wordpress as sheisgeeky.)

That is disgusting. Wearing a pair of Steve Madden boots from Nordstrom's shouldn't do that to your socks. As you can tell, my boots are better at sucking up water than they are at being a fashionable piece of protective footwear. By the time I got to school today, my socks were soaking, and my feet smelled so sweaty (Fact: I probably lost 10 friends that day).

Not only do my feet get absolutely soaked when I wear these boots in rainy weather, but they get temporarily "stained" from the rain. After it dries, it gets stained from the water, and you can see water marks form on the boot (right picture).

AND, to top it all off, the back of the boot is totally destroyed. But, this is probably due to the fact that I drag my feet like an ogre (no, really. I do. And if you find that attractive, you should see my catwalk).

So, now I really want a new pair of boots. I asked my friends for some suggestions on what kind of boots I should buy. I got, "Timberlands", "Lugz" and "Hunter boots" as a response. Maybe I should have included the fact that I am not a male in my question to my friends.

In other news, I got this for Valentine's day:

DROOL. I lava Felicia Day. Her character has helped me to accept my inner geek. Her comic reminds me of my awkward high school days (and even college days) where I was constantly trying to be comfortable with who I am, and somehow make that fit into some socially acceptable person. I read the whole comic in about 45 minutes, and I couldn't be more pleased. Oh, and I also go this for Valentine's day:

No. Literally. That's what I got for Valentine's day. My boyfriend actually showed me a picture of roses on his smartphone when I got into the car right before he took me out to Little Caesars for Valentine's Day dinner. "Surprise! Happy Valentine's day! Sorry. I couldn't make it to the store in time to get any. Smell them!".

Ha! I'm kidding. We didn't go to Little Caesars!

But he really did give me virtual flowers. But, I actually laughed really hard the whole car ride and thought it was pretty cute that he actually googled "roses" in his smartphone right before I got into the car.

Alrighty, then. I think I'm going to go scare people off with my rancid-smelling feet, and smell my virtual roses.

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Janelle Monae's "ArchAndroid".

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:47:00 -0800

image by plyfitto

Ever since the beginning of the year, I've had a plan to listen to one (new) album a day. Today, I woke up and listened to Janelle Monae's album, "ArchAndroid".

Now THAT is an album to wake up to.

Janelle Monae brings something unique and memorable to today's female music industry. And, no, I'm not talking about a uniqueness or a memorableness of a Ke$ha or a Nick Minaj. I'm talking about something long-term. Classic. Unforgettable. Her album is an album that I will probably play over and over and over again.

Janelle was "...handpicked by Big Boi to guest on his Got Purp mixtape and on Outkast's Idlewild. ..her debut EP...is the story of an alien android name Cindy Mayweather who's been persecuted by the government of futuristic city Metropolis for her illegal love affair with a human (from Rhapsody's info page on Janelle Monae)"

Seriously! Listen to it.

By the way, shout out to my friend Sal, who gave props to her before I even knew who she was. Wouldn't be writing this journal entry without that intial inspiration Janelle gave to him!

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Serious Listening: Outkast's, "Hey Ya!" is a Break-Up Song

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:23:00 -0800

Yes. It's a break-up song. Hello! Didn't see that coming, did you? Especially since the video and song makes you want to dance. Proof that it is a break up song:

Thank god for mom and dad

For sticking two together

'Cause we don't know how...

...

We get together

Ohh, we get together

But seperate's always better when there's feelings involved

If what they say is "Nothing is forever"

what makes, what makes, what makes

what makes, what makes LOOVVEEE?

(Love exception) So why you, why you

Why you, why you, why you are we so in denial

When we know we're not happy heeeerrreeee...

I make the same mistake myself EVERY TIME I HEAR THIS SONG. I always have to remind myself that this is a break-up song.

Which makes me wonder, is anyone seriously listening to any of the lyrics in today's music?

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Music I love: The Happy Unfortunate - "No Time to Sleep"

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:04:00 -0800

The Happy Unfortunate is offering their newest album, "No Time to Sleep" for any price you think the album is worth. So, if you don't want to pay, you can name "0" as your price. But I think this album deserves to be paid for.

The opening track opens with the following quote (which, by the way, I am absolutely in love with):

"There was this man who was trying to push music constantly past him. Even music that he loved. And he said to me, 'Keith you know why I don't play ballads anymore.' And I said, 'No.' And he said, 'Because I love playing ballads so much.' That's the sign of an artist. Because, he has to be conscious enough to see that even what he loves has to move."

I love this quote because it challenges the way people listen to music today. It seems as if everyone "loves music".You can't "love" music, and only listen to a fraction of what's out there. If you really loved music, if you really cared for it, then you'd at least be open to listening to sounds you aren't comfortable with.

Anyway, if you're looking for a soothing jazz and hip hop album, this is it:

The Happy Unfortunate - "No Time to Sleep"

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Blog Update: Showing Some Skin...

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:17:43 -0800

Image from Solenne-J-Art.

Yeah, yeah. I know. Blog updates are always so incredibly boring (unless you're the person writing the blog). But I wanted to let people know that:

1. Although I don't write or update this blog very often, I am ALWAYS thinking of and developing new content.

2. I'm showing some skin on this blog. What does that mean? If you were hoping that I would answer "I'm going to take some clothes off", then you totally fell for my shameless plug! And now you can leave!

But don't!

So what do I mean by "showing more skin"? Being a little more uncensored. Showing more personality. Being more of myself.

The one thing that I learned about myself last year through updating this blog was that I was scared of showing too much personality. I tried too hard to find topics that would fit any audience, which forced me to write in a style that really had no voice. How boring. I also wrote with the wrong people in mind. I'll be honest: I thought of the possible recruiters, professionals, and teachers that could find my blog, and thought about how I want them to see me. What a huge mistake!

People don't want to know more about you when you write very generally, and with no (true) target audience in mind. Having personality is what makes you different, and more unique. It's what makes you human.

So, I'm planning on writing more about music and lyrics, cool applications that I find useful, and technology. Because that's what I'm passionate about.

I also want to eventually start a video blog. It's been on my mind for awhile, but I don't have a camera or a computer that doesn't want to explode if I try to record ore than 2 minutes of video. I want to make a video blog NOT so you can hear me ramble about my life, but because I want to be a better communicator and story teller.

Anyways, that was my little rant.

For those of you that are still on the blog thinking that I'm still going to show some actual skin, everything read as "Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah! Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah skin blah."

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Ernst & Young FAIL

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:58:00 -0700

Another EDIT (1/30/2011)

I've received some information regarding E & Y and their "BCC Mistake" that's left me rather confused. I've asked a good friend of mine whether she has heard back from E & Y after the incident. She showed me an email that she received sometime in October 2010 from E & Y apologizing for the incident. However, another friend of mine (who's email address was shown in the "Thank you for your interest in Ernst & Young") did not receive that same email.

I've sifted through my emails dozens of times trying to find the October apology email my friend received. I've also looked on my UW email, my hotmail email (even though I did not provide my hotmail email address), and my Geekycollegegirl gmail account and have found no such email.

I'm actually okay with not receiving an email apology because I did receive an apology via phone call from their corporate headquarters.

However, I'm perplexed as to why my friend did not receive the same apology email from E & Y. I know that many of the email addresses were UW email addresses, and that many people forward their UW email to other email addresses. I'm wondering if maybe the email may have been lost in the forwarding process. However, this would be the first time that error would have ever occurred.

I also know that my friend who has received the email apology contacted E & Y by email when she saw that her email address was displayed.So, possibly, the apology email only went to those who have complained directly to E & Y?? I'm still not sure at this point.

Anyone with any other information, please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to post any information that would help clear up the situation.

EDIT:

I received a call from the headquarters of E & Y a while ago. They've apologized to me about the situation. I accept the apology. However, I find it funny that it took someone to publish a blog about leaking everyone's email address in order for them to recognize their mistake. Also, they have only apologized to me (at least, this is all I know so far. They could've apologized to others. However, I did not hear about it). Has anyone gotten an apology from E & Y about this? Or does everyone have to write about this incident in order to receive an apology?

----

What's wrong with this picture?

Maybe the fact that 1. it's a rejection email that was sent to my email address, but I'm more concerned with the fact that 2. everyone who was rejected from Ernst & Young has their email address displayed in the rejection email.

Have you ever heard of BCC? Obviously not.

I don't like getting rejection letters. No one does. But to publicly display my email address in a mass rejection letter? That's a slap in the face. I'm glad I didn't get invited to an unprofessional firm!

Thanks E & Y!

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3 podcast episodes that have changed my life + other podcast recommendations

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:39:51 -0700

Picture from corycenter

In my opinion, one of the most under hyped things you can find on the web are podcasts. You can learn so much about yourself or a new subject so easily. Here are a few of the podcasts that have stood out in my mind and have changed my life:

QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS - GET-IT-DONE-GUY (Stever Robbins) "How to Stand Out"

Stever Robbins is hilarious and informative about how to keep organized and sane in this age of technology. The podcast episode "How to Stand Out" even helped to inspire me to make this blog. My favorite lines from this episode:

"People like personality! After years of hiding my personality and style, fearing it would be inappropriate in business, I let myself peek out of my shell and Wooph!""what sets you apart from everyone else is … you. People form bonds with you, not your skill set. Yet most of us wait for the weekend to be ourselves. We live based on what we think people expect. Of course, they’re doing the same thing, imagining that we expect them to fit a mold.If you want to stand out as exceptional, sure, develop your skills. Then enhance them by finding ways to add your personality into the mix."

How to Stand Out

THE MOTH - Al Letson's "Father Figures"

I'm really interested in trying to become a great story teller, and the way Al Letson tells this story is perfect. I don't have a snippet of a part of his talk, or a quote of the best part of his story because 1. I can't find a transcript and 2. I feel that quoting a little of the episode wouldn't do Al Letson's story justice. I feel that those interested in hearing should just listen to the whole thing in its entirety.

Father Figures

TED TALKS - Steve Jobs's "How to Live Before You Die".

Ted Talks, in general, is a great podcast to find inspiration along with a new perspective on life. Episodes are about 15 minutes long -- which makes it great for listening to while you commute.

This podcast episode, "How to LIve Before You Die", totally helped to inspire me to change my career path (from being an accountant to a something in IT). Jobs reminds us to do what we love:

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

How to Live Before You Die

OTHER PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS - QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS

Some podcasts that have really helped to teach me new things are the Quick an Dirty Tips series. I've learned a lot about a variety of things because of these podcasts and I highly recommend you find one you like and start listening today.I really enjoy much of the quick and dirty tips podcasts because they have such a variety of things to listen to. You can listen to a podcast for dog tips, or a podcast dedicated to moms interested in getting tips about parenting, or even podcast about grammar. I could go on and on but I only have so much space and I don't want to bore you (that is, if I haven't already). Check out the Quick and Dirty Tips website for more information on all the different kinds of podcasts you can find!

QUICK AND DIRTY TIPS

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5 Painless ways to expand your music taste

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:34:37 -0700

5 Painless ways to expand your music taste

image via imagineanne

I need new music. All the time.
I spend hours looking on various sites for the new best thing, or an old classic that I have never heard of.
I do, on occasion, use Last.fm, Pandora, and Blip.fm for my new music searches. But for the most part, those music sites tend to reinforce the boundaries of your music library rather than break them down.

In this article I highlight what I think are the best ways to find new music that fits your collection. And I do understand that finding new music can be a frustrating ordeal, so I've put together a list of five ways to expand your music library with little frustration.

Two important things before you attempt to expand the types of music you like:
1. Keep an open mind 24/7, 365. My mantra is to always be slowly expanding my musical taste and to always be listening may it be a store as you're shopping, or the music in the background of a tv show always be listenig!!

2. Low expectations: It takes time. Don't expect to be able to expand the type of music you listen to the second you decide to make a change. You will go through phases (Currently, I'm stuck in a country phase, where I only want to discover country music). Keep in mind that you can't just jump into a style and expect to like it. But be open for new sounds.

Now, the five ways:

1. Listen to your friend's music
This is the easiest way to expand the types of music you are listening to: listen to what you're friends are listening to. This means allowing them choose what station or cd they want to listen to in the car or while you are studying with them. Also, check out the links and videos people post on facebook, listen to their pandora, blip.fm or last.fm!. Be open minded!

I think it's best to implement a rule when listening to their music: you can't change their song when it is on. You have to listen to all of what they listen to.

2. Listen to covers of your favorite songs / favorite artists
Sometimes the best way to find new music is to listen to your favorite songs...but by different artists. Or listen to different songs covered by your favorite artist. The trick is to try and not to pay too much attention to who the artist is. (What I like to do is play the song without even looking at who made the song).
The following links are great places to start to find covers. The one I use the most is Copy Cats.

Copy Cats
best covers you've never heard of
the 50 best covers of 2009

3. Listen to what inspires your favorite artists
This is along the lines of listening what your friends listen to, but I feel that you would feel a little more obligated to listen to what inspires your favorite artists. I couldn't offer more of a variety of celebrity blogs, but I'm open to hearing about celebrity blogs that inspire you to listen to a variety of music.

common's blog
kanye west's blog
justin timberlake

4. Change the decade and/or country from which you listen to music to
sometimes you don't realize it, but you end up listening to the same type of music, from the same decade from the same artist. Try changing the time frame (try a different decade) Or try to listen to music from different countries. Maybe listen to popular songs in a different genre.

Here's a list of places to get your feet (ears?) wet:

rolling stone's 100 best songs of the decade
Pretty Much Amazing: Best songs of the decade
NPR: the years best world music
Billboard charts

5. Follow a music blog
Following a music blog is probably one of the best ways to get find interesting new music. When I say "music blog", I don't necessarily mean a blog that reviews music, or says why it's a tasteful piece of art, etc; but I do mean that the blog creator is constantly posting music on the site so that the music they want to share is easily accessed (i.e. youtube video, link, upload site....).Find someone who has a somewhat similar taste in music as you do and listen to the music they post.

Start looking for your personal music blogger:

i listen to everything
18 of the Best Music Blogs on Tumblr
NPR Music

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Where is this blog going? How about not in the right direction.

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:32:00 -0700

Where is Geeky College Girl going? Not down the path I was hoping to take.
Follow me on Twitter: geekycollegegrl

So, I just looked back at all the blog posts I've done in the past, and I just don't feel that they don't fit what I wanted this blog to be. In a nutshell, I really don't think the subject matter is nerdy geeky enough*,

I was hoping that this site would be more of a Lifehacker or a Digitized but that's not how it's turned out lately.

Some of things I want to be able to change soon:

1. Be able to change the format of this site via CSS (Yes, even though I have NEVER coded in css and have zero experience with css. Yes. Judge me. Please).

2. Move this blog to Wordpress. I am not impressed with posterous at all.

3. Talk more about technology. I love digital technology, and I want to share that with you, my fellow geeks, nerds, and dweebs*

4. Show some personality. The one thing that I really want to change is the lack of personality that I've shown on this site. I feel like I've been too safe with the content and the writing that I've been creating.

[x] 5. Get someone named Ramon Backwards to read this blog. Which I probably will not succeed at.

That's all for now. Get ready for some changes!
------
*See the following diagram. I hope people perceive me as more of a socially intelligent person (aka a GEEK).

Via Greatwhitesnark

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Avoid bookstore stress by choosing chegg.com instead.

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:31:19 -0700

Does this image remind you of something? Especially for you college students starting the quarter?

No, it’s not exactly a zombie attack (but pretty close to it, I might add), but it is a picture that reminds me of having to visiting the bookstore to buy your required books the first week of any quarter.

This is what usually happens to me when I get to the bookstore that first week:

First, I have to find the section your books are located. I always forget to look this up beforehand.

Then, I have to dodge everyone just to get to my section, because they’re just as confused as I am to where their books are. When I finally get to where you need to be, there’s always, always, always someone standing in the way of my books. So after awkwardly waiting and screaming excuse me a few times, you gather all 30,000 pounds of books (which you will not read for the rest of the quarter), and I fall in line. And this, my friend, requires the patience of a buddhist monk. And might I add that it’s NOT fun to fall in line with people who are just as disgruntled as you are about shedding lots of blood, sweat and tears for a book. Finally, I am flagged (yes, flagged), to a cash register. Up to this point, the fight would be worth it if I was saving a ton of money through buying textbooks from the bookstore. But I’m not saving money, I’m practically throwing it at them.

So, I’ve decided that I won’t put myself in that situation unless a class requires me to buy a textbook which can only be found at the University. Instead, I don’t buy my books, I rent them from Chegg.com.

This is how much I would pay if I bought my books at the bookstore.

Renting from Chegg.com not only saved me 75 dollars (that is: used bookstore book (145.15) minus chegg.com rental (69.34)) this quarter, but it saved me the stress of having to go to the bookstore. I’ve been using chegg.com to rent my textbooks for three quarters now, and I am very happy with my choice.

This is a screenshot of my chegg.com order.

No, I am not getting paid to write this for chegg.com. But I am a customer that is pleased to see cheaper, less stressful ways to get my books.

Thought I’d share the tip.

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Professionalism in the Workplace According to a BDO Campus Recruiter

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:50:00 -0800

Professionalism in the Workplace According to a BDO Campus Recruiter

Stephanie Polon, the National Director of Campus Recruiting at BDO, gave a presentation on professionalism in the workplace to members of the Beta Alpha Psi accounting club at the University of Washington. Though she presented back in October of 2009, I wanted to post her advice and my notes on her lecture because I still feel like I’m reaping benefits from the advice she gave to Beta Alpha Psi.

I organized the advice into two parts: 1) Meeting a recruiter and 2) Following up and post-recruiter meeting.

Meeting a recruiter:

From motivatednetworker

Do you shake hands with someone and end up giving “cold, clammy hands [which can happen when] you are nervous and are sweating“? This is what The Motivated Networker calls “The Wet Fish. First impressions count. Don’t be remembered because of your Wet Fish Handshake!

Handshake: Try to make your handshake as normal as possible. Weak or strong handshakes draw too much attention and you don’t want to be remembered because of your very weak or strong handshake

Tattoos: Whether or not you have a tattoo showing can be a big thing when you present yourself to a professional. Stephanie notes that tattoos aren’t necessarily a “bad” thing to have, but it really depends on how you want to be remembered. If you want to be remembered for your tattoo, then don’t be afraid to show it. But do note that sometimes that is the only thing you may be remembered by. You can be Jenny Smith, the girl with the tattoo on her arm. Or Jenny Smith: the girl who asked really good questions and had a strong personality when she presented herself at the career fair at University of Washington.

· Resume: Stephanie recommends that if you want to have an objective on your resume, then it should be specific. Are you looking for part time? Full time? Firm? In Seattle? Where? This helps to streamline the process of trying to fit your resume in the right category.

· Perfume/Cologne: Not recommended. You never know about someone’s allergies or sensitivities to smells.

· Slang: She recommends staying away from using slang. I once accidentally said to a professional: “Oh dude, sorry . My bad.” I wonder what she was thinking after I said that.

· Ask Smart Questions: Another pitfall during a recruiting event is when you have weak questions or no questions. Weak questions are things that you ask just to ask and kill the breeze between you and the recruiter. These questions could be answered with a simple yes or no.

         o   For example: “Do you have a women’s initiative for people who join the firm?”
         o   RESEARCH!!: To shape up your questions, do some research, show your knowledge of the firm
         o   Better: “So I saw that your firm has a women’s initiative. I’m interested in hearing more about it. I’m wondering, how have these     groups changed women within your firm? Have you participated in any of the events?”
         o   Also, to keep current, read the wall street journal and current events. This will help with conversation. Of course, you’ll want to stay away from religion and politics, but there are many other news events to talk about with the professionals.

· Enthusiasm: Be excited when you interview! Smile. It shows you care about the job. Also, when you get a recruiting call, it’s okay to be excited!
· Alcohol: If there’s alcohol, there is no obligation to drink it. No one is judging you on whether you drink or not. However, if you get drunk then that may be the only think you’re remembered for. The alcohol isn’t there so you can get wasted. It only takes one drunk comment to get you remembered in a way you don’t want to be.

o If you decide to have a drink, then hold your Drink with a napkin, and avoid swirling a drink or rattling the ice. Use the napkin before shaking hands. Nothings worse than a cold, wet handshake.

o If you don’t want to drink but want to look like you are, , have a soda water with lime.

Following up and post-recruiter meeting

This is from a teacher forum, where teachers post their “favorite” student emails. Don’t end up on here!

· Following Up With a Recruiter: Follow up with the recruiter only if you truly are thankful and excited about the job opportunity. Recruiters get a lot of thank you emails and it’s very apparent who is genuinely interested in the position or just sending the same thank you note that they send to all the firms. Emails are EXPECTED. If you want to really stand out after the on campus interview, Stephanie suggested that you should bring a blank thank you card to your interview, fill it out after your interview and leave it with the receptionist for your interviewer. Everyone else will be sending emails. (Note: I’ve tried to do this, but the front desk at our career center won’t allow us to leave thank you cards because they don’t want to be held liable if the note gets lost along the way.)

· Facebook: Stephanie noted that professionals can’t base a hiring decision on Facebook. She doesn’t check her candidate Facebook pages, but she has heard stories from people who have, so if you have a profile picture (or any picture) up that you don’t want to be remembered by, don’t have it up.

· Phone Etiquette: Stephanie demonstrated a phone call she received from a student: “Hi Stephanie, it’s Jenny. I was wondering if you could get back to me about a question I had about recruiting. Thanks! Bye”

From nataliede

o Problem: Jenny who? What’s her last name? Where did she meet Jenny? When did she meet Jenny? What school is she from? At what number do I reach her?

o Solution: When you leave a voice mail, first say your first and last name, and phone number. Also repeat this at the end of the phone call.

o So this is what it sounds like: “Hi Stephanie, this is Jenny Smith. 206-534-2353.”

o And after you are done leaving the message: “Thanks Stephanie! Once again this is Jenny Smith. 206-534-2353”

o Also mention where you met Stephanie and what school you are from. Recruiters meet a lot of people from a lot of schools, so it’s nice to have a reminder of who you are and what school you are from.

o So: “This is Jenny Smith from University of Washington. We met during your visit to UW in October when you presented to Beta Alpha Psi.”

o Another thing: Stephanie doesn’t recommend having ring back tones. She mentioned that sometimes there is a generational gap between the person calling, and the person receiving the call. So when a professional calls and hears a song instead of a ring, it can confuse them. It’s not the most professional thing to have, so keep it simple with a normal phone ring.

· Email: Although email is known to be a casual thing, when writing an email to a professional, it should be treated as if you were writing a letter. If it’s too conversational, then it might not be professional enough for the reader. Also remember that email isn’t the only way to communicate. Sometimes it’s also nicer to call and talk.

o It’s recommended to have a signature at the bottom of your email that includes your name, contact info and school (if you’re okay with sharing personal information).

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Ways to Make Pocket Change as a College Student

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:20:00 -0800

As an unemployed college student, I see the importance of making the most out of every dollar. One way to earn money is to watch the way you spend, but sometimes that isn’t enough. In this entry, I will highlight easy ways to make some extra pocket money.

I’ve been experimenting with different online sites to try and make money. Do note that this is only pocket change – you can’t quit your day job and survive on the following stratagies. BUT, you do earn some pocket change!

I will touch on (and also update you on these sites as I use them) the following sites:

-Swagbucks

-Mypoints

-Youdata

Swagbucks

Swagbucks was my first experience with sites that “pay you” to search. Basically, all you have to do is search through swagbucks’s site , just like you use google and bing.com, and you earn Swagbucks. You can use these swagbucks to buy “swag” at swagbucks’s rewards center. You can trade your swagbucks in for things like amazon gift cards, to electronics like ipod touches and games on the xbox. What’s awesome about Swagbucks is that you don’t have to change the way you websurf to get Swagbucks. Basically, you’re getting paid to do things you already do online. You just use the site to search and you win swagbucks every once in a while.

Earned so far with Swagbucks: $20 worth of Amazon.com giftcards.

Downs:

The prizes aren’t that great. Pencils? A swagbucks t-shirt? Stickers? Not that fun.
Getting and building up swagbucks is kind of difficult. I’ve literally searched like 30 times in one day, and got NO swagbucks.

Ups:

Using Swagbucks to search isn’t so bad. Occasionally, I do have to go to google or bing in order to get more relevant results, but about 75% of the time, I’m able to find the answer to my search querie through swagbucks.
Wanna start using Swagbucks? Click here

Mypoints:

Mypoints is a similar deal to Swagbucks, except you get points for clicking through junk e-mail and taking surveys on top of earining points for searching through their site. Here are the ups and downs

Earned so far with Mypoints: $10 BP giftcard.

· Ups: SUPER easy to build up points. I get about 5- 10 mypoints “bonusmails” (junk mail I get points for clicking through) everyday. Worth 5 points each, that’s about 25-50 poitns a day. Awesome!

· You only have to search 30+ times a month to get 75 points.

· Variety of ways to earn poitns. I love that you can earn points not only by searching, but through surveys and clicking through junkmail. It makes getting points easier.

· Better prizes. In my opinion, I’d rather have giftcards vs. Actual items (pencils). Mypoints’s rewards are all giftcards for popular retail shopping places.

Downs:

· Most of the time, you have “pending points”, meaning you have to wait for your points to count. This sometimes takes a couple weeks to a month. For example, I needed 1500 points to get a BP giftcard. I had 1500 points within a couple months, but I had to wait for a lot of “pending points” to become actual points. So although I had my points in three months, it took an extra month to wait for the points to count.

· I ordered my 10 dollar gift card last month, and STILL have not received any word on where it is now. I emailed mypoints, and was told that it would take AN ADDITIONAL 2-3 WEEKS before someone just responds to my inquiry.

· You can only earn 75 points a month for searching through their terrible tool bar.

· Their search engine is TERRIBLE. It’s a nightmare searching through mypoints. I can never find anything I need on the site engine search, and if I do, I have to climb through dozens of ads. I recommend going through the mypoints bar settings, and change it so that mypoints search results pop up during any “page errors” you have. Although, i found this to be even more irritating. Sometimes the search results page would trigger even though I didn’t have a page error.

Youdata

Earned so far: $1.70

This is the newest one I’ve signed up for. On Youdata, you get paid to look at ads that are relevant to you.

Ups:

· You get paid every Friday, regardless of how much you made. Last week, I only got 30 cents in relevant ads, but it was transfered to my pay pal account that Friday.

Downs:

· You probably won’t get paid more than a dollar a week. I thought I would get to look at relevant ads everyday, but I’ve only got paid to see ads once this week.

· You don’t get very many relevant ads.

· Sure, you get paid every Friday, but what’s the joy in earning thirty cents?

Wanna start using Youdata?! Click here.

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Things I've Learned from Class [Jan. 15, 2010 Edition]

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:50:00 -0800

Things I've Learned from Class [January 15]

This is a section that is dedicated to re-teaching things that I've found interesting or important from my college courses and experiences.

So, after class this week, I've learned two things:

1. Sunk costs are irrelevant when making decisions about the future

2. You can't have enemies

I think these are two lessons that I've had to learn over and over again throughout college that have really impacted the way I think and act. Let me explain what I mean when I mention these two things I have learned.

"Sunk costs are irrelevant when making decisions about the future"

"You've paid $10 to get into the movie and it just plain stinks. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is terrible, the violence is excessive. But you've already watched half of it. Do you sit through the movie to the end or do you leave?"

Before I learned about the Sunk Cost Fallacy (I'll explain later), I would have just sat through the movie. I've already paid for something, so why not see it through? I paid for the experience, right? If I leave, then why did I pay for the ticket? Right?

The bad movie example is from Barry Schwartz's article, "The 'sunk-cost fallacy".

Schwartz explains that "[I]t's a mistake to continue with a project or an activity because of what you have already invested in it. The time or money you've already spent is gone. You can't reclaim it. Using a past investment to justify a future investment is what they call the 'sunk-cost fallacy.''Instead of thinking about the past, what we should be doing is thinking about the future?"

Essentially, Schwartz is saying that you can't base a decision on the time or money you have invested in an activity because you can't get back what you've already spent. Furthermore, just because you've invested time and money to an activity, it doesn't mean that you have to complete that activity. You've got to take your mind off of what has happened in the past, and focus if you will benefit with this activity in the future.

My real life example. At the beginning of this school year, I planned to become a member of Beta Alpha Psi, an accounting club at the University I attend. Back when I was a pre-business major, I dreamed about attending this club and meeting many accounting students and networking with business persons from big companies. Plus, the best part was when firms saw it on your resume: "Member of Beta Alpha Psi". "Now that must mean something to big companies!" I thought.

Fast forward to my life now.

The club requires you to go through a candidate phase before you can be an actual "member". This requires a price of $95 per quarter for every quarter that you are a candidate, 40 hours of community service, and attending a weekly meeting.

Now, that wouldn't be so bad if I were actually benefitting from all that I have invested into this club. As a result of putting all this effort into becoming a member of Beta Alpha Psi, I almost failed my accounting class last quarter, wasted my time going to many (not ALL, but the majority) meetings that I didn't feel had taught me anything,and feel that I've wasted almost $100 dollars of my money.

Now, to be fair, I have benefitted somewhat from this club. I've made a ton of friends through Beta Alpha Psi, heard a couple really amazing presentations made by firms, and learned that I really want to work for BDO Seidman because of one of the lectures. I am NOT bashing on this club, I just feel that the cost of trying to continue to become a member would come at the cost of possibly not passing one of my accounting classes. That cost is too great and outweighs the benefit of being able to network with professionals and to be able to put "Member of Beta Alpha Psi" on my resume.

Lesson learned. After learning about the Sunk Cost Fallacy in Economics 200, I realized that I utilize the Sunk Cost argument almost on a daily basis, and that I should not base my decision of future commitment on what I've invested, but instead whether or not I will benefit in the long run with this activity.

Stop making this mistake yourself! Realize when you are using the Sunk Cost argument to justify future decisions.

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"You can't have enemies"

Okay. Okay. Sure. This is a pretty obvious one. Don't have enemies. Right.

Okay. Maybe not so obvious to me.Let me set the scene.

Last year, when I was a pre-business major, it was so easy to dislike people who were competing against you to get into business school: Not many people get in, competition is cut throat and it puts 100x more pressure on doing well on exams, all the while you have to be able to pass the class which is based on a curve set by the person with the highest grade. I remember getting my midterm back in one of my pre-business classes and thinking that I might fail the class because I was 20 points below average on the exam. A girl in front of me started to CRY because she was 3 points below average. That made me feel terrible. How are YOU going to CRY because you got three points below average, when I'm sitting here wondering if I'm even going to PASS this class?! I was angry at her, probably because I was jealous of her score, and I gave her the eye for the rest of the quarter. She probably knew I didn't like her at all.

Fast forward.

I passed last quarter. But the 3-points-below-average girl is in my class this quarter. And now she's in my group. And now we have to work together on a project. How do you even start to revive that relationship when you gave her "The Eye" all last quarter? To summarize, she hated me from the beginning because I automatically made her an enemy after one little thing. She was hard to work with, and it was not a pleasant experience.

The takeaway. Treat EVERYONE as a potential person you may have to work with. I wish I realized that I might have to work with this person in the future, and that working with someone on a project is SO much easier if you treat them well from the beginning. I'm not saying like everyone from the start, I'm saying that you should treat your peers with enough respect now because you might need to work with them in the future. And it's SO much easier to work with someone you don't have a bad history with.

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Learned something in class and have a story of how you applied it to your life? Comment below or email Geekycollegegirl@gmail.com

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Contact Info Update

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:42:43 -0800

Follow me on Twitter: geekycollegegrl
Email me: Geekycollegegirl@gmail.com
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I probably should have done that earlier, but I've been so busy. And,
not to mention, I have been using dial-up for the past couple weeks.
Not fun (and not very fast, either).

Anyways, I hope you all have a HAPPY HOLIDAY!

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Starbucks: Free Music & Update From me!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:51:46 -0800

Like free music?

Starbucks has a new free song every Tuesday! Pick of the Week is a free Starbuck's selected song from iTunes. This week's pick is Se Fue's "Bebe". To redeem your Pick of the Week, just go to any participating Starbucks and pick up the Pick of the Week card which has a download code for your free song.

(I <3 Mayer Hawthorne. Do check his music out!)

P.S. It changes every Tuesday, but the free song is available every day of the week (unless, of course, the Pick of the Week cards run out.) Also I'm not sure if every Starbucks is participating in Pick of the Week, so check with your local Starbucks to see if they offer this service!

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Random Update:

I'll usually pair updates with posts because I think updates from myself are pretty boring on its own.

-Swagbucks.com: Just by using Swagbucks's search engine, you can get swagbucks, which can be redeemed for giftcards and other prizes like t-shirts. I just earned enough swagbucks to buy 2 $5 Amazon.com giftcards - all earned JUST FROM SEARCHING THROUGH THEIR SEARCH ENGINE. More on this later.

-MyPoints.com: A lot like Swagbucks, a site that offers points everytime you read their spam, take a survey, buy things online through their site, and/or use their search engine. These points can be used to redeem giftcards from popular stores! I almost have enough points to redeem a $10 BP (Nordstrom's Junior section) giftcard! More on this site later.

-Need good study music? My favorite online station to listen to to help me be more productive is pandora.com. Enter "Polaris" as your term for the radio station.

-I've done about 10 hours of studying this week. And of course, I still feel like it isn't enough. That's the Foster Business School way of life!

-My "Pick of the Week": Gorillaz "Double Bass".

-I've been wanting to make my posterous more music oriented. I'm hoping to pull together a couple posts to offer other college students a bite of how I find new, good music.

-I've also been really busy. Volunteering, group projects, studying, etc. I'm loving the volunteer work I'm doing as an accounting tutor at the Instructional Center!

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If you have any suggestions to what you would like to see on my Posterous, please comment!

Happy Studying!

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Mini-tip: "Always Need" Coupon Lists!

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:20:26 -0700

Mini-tips are blog entries I didn't have time to flesh out into a whole article of advice on one subject. Instead, with the time that I have, I've written about one aspect of a subject that can be read in ~5 minutes or less.

(From Lifehackery.com)

Lots of the times I won't find relevant coupons that apply to the items I want to buy next time at the grocery store. Sometimes I run into ecoupons/coupons that may apply to basic things I need in the future but I spend so much time trying to figure out if I may need it in the future that I just toss the coupon.

One way to prevent the above scenario from happening is to make a list of things that you will ALWAYS NEED in the future and stick it somewhere near your computer where you can easily find this list. My ALWAYS NEED list is as follows (and is still being edited every now and then):

-tampons
-pads
-dish soap
-toothpaste
-toothbrush
-body soap

That way when I'm looking through coupons, it is a brainless activity to decide whether or not the coupon is relevant to future shopping.

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Hope that tip helped! A blogger I look up to when it comes to coupon hunting is Money Saving Mom. She has a tip on how to stretch your dollars online. Good read for new coupon cutters like me!

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BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:55:36 -0700

Hello all.

So sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've been incredibly busy with business school and studying and life in general.

Things to mention that I've been up to lately:
-I started volunteer tutoring for accounting last week! I'm logged for 4 hrs/week, but lately I've been logging in an hour more than I've said I'd volunteer.
-I also started logging hours of study and homework time each week. Last week, I logged 5 hours of homework, and 6 hours of studying. It's still not enough time to catch up with everything I learn in class. =[
-I'm working on a Professionalism blog post (thanks to BDO's recruiter, Jennifer, who provided a lecture for accounting students)

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I'm wondering, how much do you guys study and do homework every week? What is the amount of time doing homework/studying that you have found success? My friend says he does 15 hours of studying a week. But I'm guessing it varies depending on the person and what their major is. Let me know!

Cheers! Until next time.

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Mini-tip: Career fairs!! (Did that scare you?)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:02:06 -0700

CAREER FAIR.

Just something about those two words that frighten me. Maybe because those words prompts images of too many intimidating people in one room, dreadful conversations, and just lots and lots of awkwardness.

Those WERE the first thoughts that crossed my mind when I walked into my first career fair two weeks ago. But after going to my second career it turns out, it's not so bad. In fact, it is kind of fun.

There are two things that will make you scared (I say WILL because if you have that expectation when you go to a career fair, you will expect it and you will at least know where you will be fearful. Versus, if you went to a career fair, encountered these two things, didn't expect it, got intimidated by the fear, and left...which is pretty much what I wanted to do):

1. Seeing so many people dressed in professional garb competing for a recruiter
2. Walking up to a recruiter and initiating a conversation

Help for fear 1:
Now, the first one is a fear that you gotta just let pass. It IS intimidating, but DON'T leave. Looking around at a career fair in a "big picture" view (seeing everyone confidently talk to recruiters etc), WILL look intimidating. But on a personal scale, you'll realize that as the fear passes, that it's just a big social and it's not that bad. All that matters is the conversation between you and whatever person you talk to that night. This is where fear two comes in....

Help for fear 2:
Now, the second fear is harder to combat because in order to fight it, you must take action. But remember the FIVE seconds it takes to walk up to a recruiter and introduce yourself and shake hands will be the only time you'll really be scared. Just think of those five seconds as an investment to your career. All you have to do is get past those first five seconds and you might have a career in line. After that, a conversation gets rolling, and it isn't as awkward.

Steps for these fears:

These are steps I take when I have one of these fears:

Walk around the room and sample: What I mean by this is scope out what companies are there. Take note of what firm is where. Getting familiar with your surroundings helps the first and second fear.

Talk to the first recruiter that is free and looks at you eye to eye: The best way to start a career fair is to dive into your first conversation. I literally saw people standing around trying to fight themselves to talk to a recruiter.That's just awkward. Don't be one of those people. Take the initiative, remember it's just five seconds of awkwardness trying to talk to someone, smile and introduce yourself. BUT! DON'T let this be the firm that is the firm you came to the career fair for. If anything you want to practice with a firm that you aren't familiar with or don't care too much about so that when you get to the firm you really want to impress, you would have had some practice.

"But what if I have to stand in line to talk to a recruiter?"

Okay, yes, the awkwardness lasts a little longer, but sit patiently and wait to be talked to, or walk around the room again. I don't recommend the latter because it just seems more awkward and standing in line shows confidence.

These are the only two fears I had when going to the career fair. The rest is downhill from there!

Stay tuned for more tips on career fairs

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Safeway declines my coupon because it's too far from the expiration date

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:34:03 -0700

I sent an email to Money Saving Mom to ask her about an incident at Safeway today. If you have any feedback, please, I would LOVE for you to include it as a comment on this blog.Here's the email I sent her:

I was at Safeway today and I tried to use a $2.00 off visine coupon, which expires 2/28/2010. The safeway employee told me that they don't take coupons that more than 60 days away from the expirationdate. I gave her a puzzled look but bought the visine at full price anyway. What's the deal with that? I don't understand what Safeway gains by declining to use any coupon 60 days or away from the expiration day. To me, it's like saying that I have a gift card for 2 bucks, but I can't redeem it until 60 days before the expiration date. It makes no sense to me. Can you explain why Safeway declined my visine coupon? I would love it if you could!

Thanks.

Michelle
BA Business - Accounting & Info. Systems
University of Washington
June 2011

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