eric's meanderings

stds will lose the war …

2010-10-25T09:23:00.000-04:00

How to Raise your GPA: College Essay Editing

2010-10-21T13:32:00.001-04:00

Let's Get This Party Started Right ...

Howdy Ho. Glad to be back, this time with another "How to Raise Your GPA" article focusing on College Essay Editing. If there is one thing worse than writing an essay, it's the horrible process we all like to call editing. Going back through your words, after spending so much time on just creating them, is like pulling out teeth without the nova caine, or something like that.

As an English major, I understand the importance of a good essay. What I didn't used to know is that editing and revising, spending the time to go over your work, is 70% of the process. It is almost more important than the creation itself (although you need the first draft to be able to come up with a second).

Any, here is a list of tips to make the revision process easier. I will, in the next few months, provide more articles on writing and getting good grades. If you're interested, I suggest subscribing to my HubPages article feed right here, or you can check out all my other articles here, or you can follow me by clicking on that little thing over there to the right that says "follow".

In addition, make sure to check out the resources and links below. There are great sites that help analyze your essay, offer more detailed explanations of comma splices, and of course, my recommended book by Scott Young on how to Learn More, Study Less .

As always, I love comments and questions, so don't be afraid to ask.

Head on over to "How to Raise your GPA: College Essay Editing" for the full article and all the great tips.

For more on raising your gpa, check out my article series on How to Raise Your GPA

the grammar police is fun …

2010-10-18T09:21:00.000-04:00

someone wasn’t reading the plans too well …

2010-10-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

How to Raise Your GPA: The Comma is Cool

2010-10-07T13:27:00.000-04:00

The Comma Is Cool

The series continues. Yep, it is time for another "How to Raise Your GPA" article (which, by the way, I am having a blast writing). This time we take on the elusive and very, very scary COMMA. Those little rugrats that, in my opinion, seperate the wheat from the chaff. So, sit back, and enjoy. Also, make sure to check out the other Raise your GPA articles by click here.

Now, I know what you're thinking - I absolutely hate the rules, the silly songs, and most importantly, I am afraid of the semi colon. Don't worry. These tips are easy, common sense, and you already know them, you just may not know how to state it in writing.

Let's go on with that a bit. Most educated people, especially those who read, understand the conventions of English. Although you may not know what a gerund is (a form of a verb that ends in -ing and operates as a noun in a sentence, as in "Thinking can be painful), it doesn't matter. You know how to use them properly, and that's the only thing that really counts.

How does the Comma Increase My GPA

You may be asking how this applies to a better GPA. First off, it will increase your grades on written assignments. Although the rubric probably doesn't have a "comma points" section, proper use of punctuation will increase the sophistication of your sentences, and your overall prose style. Second, it leaves a good impression on your professor (or teacher or graduate assistant). If those who are doing the grading realize you're knowledgeable of conventional grammar rules, you'll easily stand out amongst most other students.

Remember, the art of writing is a constant process, so if you don't get these tips immediately, don't worry. Getting good at anything comes with practice, and in this case, with writing a ton of essays. I actually completed 21 essays last semester. I don't know what I was thinking, but I did.

Good luck.

For the entire article, including all the tips, head on over to "How to Raise Your GPA: The Comma is Cool"

And for more on raising your GPA, head on over to "Raise Your GPA Article Series"

funny, and sometimes blah, gadget

2010-10-04T09:17:00.000-04:00

id cards from around the world …

2010-09-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

happiest taxi guy i’ve ever seen

sure, you look just like your picture

How to Write an Essay in MLA Format

2010-09-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

A Little Bit to Begin With ...

In my experience college professors, high school teachers, and the like, enjoy a well written essay, with quotations, and proper citations. You shouldn’t be afraid of essays – they are your friend, your confidant, and most importantly, your key to good grades.

Learning how to write an essay in MLA format is an important part of college success. The skills you learn in basic composition courses will benefit you throughout your college years, especially if you are majoring in a humanities field, or if you plan on attending Graduate school or education beyond your bachelor’s degree.

Keep in mind, this article is just the tip of the MLA iceberg – to truly get a grasp on how to use MLA you will need to practice, as in writing a lot of papers, and explore other sources. At the end of this article are great links to great places around the world wide web. You should also consider picking up some of the books and software that I have sprinkled in this article.

To see more tips on MLA Writing, click on "How to Write an Essay in MLA Format"

And to read more on getting better grades, click on "How to Raise your GPA" Article series

worst pictures ever …

2010-09-20T10:07:00.000-04:00

Worst tattoo …

worst place to work …

worst place to sleep …

worst rendition of a street artist (and a real mean guy)

super, uber lazy people …

2010-09-13T10:04:00.000-04:00

funny signs for the restroom …

2010-09-06T10:02:00.000-04:00

How to Raise Your GPA: Three Note Taking Strategies

2010-09-02T10:46:00.000-04:00

How to Raise Your GPA with 3 Note-Taking Strategies

So, in my opinion, the real key to learning, whether in school or for your own edification, is to find various systems that work, and then use them. After many years in college, and a variety of experiments on different ways to learn, I have found a few things to share and advocate. I plan on writing a whole series of hubs on better study techniques, and how to raise your GPA, so if you're interested, please click on follow me. And, as always, I love comments and fan mail, so don't hesitate to hit me up.

In this article I have included three of the methods I use on a daily basis (at least when I'm attending school). Make sure to check out the various links and resources I have included, as well as the book Learn More, Study Less, by Scott Young. I purchased the book when it first came out and find it a great way to get started on increasing your GPA, in college or high school.

See all 5 photos

The Cornell Method

Quite possibly my favorite method of notes, especially in classes that are intensive on details, dates, etc. I typically use this method in history courses that are heavy on information. The idea is that the paper has three sections - the notes section, a "cue" section, and then a summary section. You can see an example to the right of the this blurb. You can tailor any of the steps to suit your needs, but typically, this is how to use the Cornell Method:

Notes section: take your typical notes here. Attempt not to take them down verbatim, but allow yourself to synthesize the information - to basically create your own words from what you're learning.
Cue section: This is basically the margin. You place cue words that give you a bit of understanding as to what is in the notes section. I also add questions to this side, with the answer basically being in the notes section.
Summary: At the end of each page, write a three sentence summary. It is key to summarize in your own words. It allows you to create your own words, and have your own level of understanding.

Tips

Cover up the "notes" side. Use the cue to asks questions, see if you can answer them, and check your answers
Commit to review the summary section every day. You will become very much aware of the material (remember, this isn't your only review of notes, just something in addition to your exam prep strategies)

Links / Resources

PDF Example with Notes on How to Use this Method HERE
Custom Cornell Note Generator HERE
Great Article from LifeHacker.com on this Method HERE

Read the FULL ARTICLE - "How to Raise Your GPA: Three Note Taking Strategies"

Read other HOW TO RAISE YOUR GPA articles

book porn for dirty, kinky book lovers …

2010-08-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

funny senior pictures (in honor of back to school days) …

2010-08-23T12:50:00.000-04:00

very bad t-shirts (or bad people)…

2010-08-16T12:47:00.000-04:00

poem’s don’t suck … i like you when you are quiet

2010-08-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

I Like You When You Are Quiet

I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent,
and you hear me from far away, and my voice does not touch you.
It looks as though your eyes had flown away
and it looks as if a kiss had sealed your mouth.

Like all things are full of my soul
You emerge from the things, full of my soul.
Dream butterfly, you look like my soul,
and you look like a melancholy word.

I like you when you are quiet and it is as though you are distant.
It is as though you are complaining, butterfly in lullaby.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:
let me fall quiet with your own silence.

Let me also speak to you with your silence
Clear like a lamp, simple like a ring.
You are like the night, quiet and constellated.
Your silence is of a star, so far away and solitary.

I like you when you are quiet because it is as though you are absent.
Distant and painful as if you had died.
A word then, a smile is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it is not true.

today’s technology with 50s advertisements …

2010-08-09T12:45:00.000-04:00

Sell You College Textbooks Online

2010-08-05T10:39:00.000-04:00

Sell Some Books, Make Some Cash

Yep. It’s that time again. Students are finding quarters under the futon, taking back all those bottles from the closet, and of course, selling back their books. Now the traditional way to do this would be to:

1. Walk slowly, almost defeated, to the campus book store

2. Hand them your books

3. Get offered $3 on your $80 Biology text OR

4. Hear those horrible words “we’re not buying this back right now”

I know. It is one of the saddest things in the world, but that’s how it goes. In my personal experience, from this morning actually, I refused to offer my books to the bookstore and went searching for online gold. Here’s what I’ve found.

NOTE: I offer up a few things to assist you in your decisions. First, I list what they offered on a “test” textbook, in this case Human Genetics by Ricki Lewis (ISBN: 978-0073525273). Second, I will let you know their reliability and trustworthiness best on their Better Business Bureau (bbb.org). Finally, I will offer up their timeline for payment, method of that payment, and whether or not shipping is free. Hope you enjoy.

NOTE NOTE: All these companies require the book to be in good condition, allowing for highlights and margin notes, but not missing pages or beat up covers. I suggest you check their requirements before sending you books in. For the most part, the company will not send your book back to you if it is deficient in any way.

View "Sell You Textbooks Online" for a complete list of tips, links, and tricks.

westboro baptist church vs. the world

2010-08-05T10:13:00.001-04:00

In honor of the Federal Judge overturning Prop 8, in California, here are some of the best “counter protest” signs for those crazy Westboro Baptist Church members.

a brief for the defense by jack gilbert

2010-08-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.

How to Buy Cheap Textbooks for College

2010-08-04T10:37:00.000-04:00

College Text Book Time

It’s that time again. Time for textbookbuying, and in some cases, time to shell out some big bucks, making it hard to be that sad, sad creature we all call a college student. But Wait! Don’t despair! I am here! (Sorry, had to, as I am both a poet and lover of Superheroes).

Quick Fact: The average student textbook, based on a review of major publishers, is $131.44. Yuck!

Anyway, while at community college, I used to shell out full price, at the student bookstore, for new textbooks. My financial aid, including grants and loans, easily covered the costs for tuition and books, and I didn’t feel I needed to be that savvy. Then something happened. I don’t exactly know what, but I think it was the need to buy a new car. Now my income and expenses took on a whole new meaning, and I needed to shave as much as possible. So, I started doing research. I am happy to admit that I’ve been “off” the new books for years, and haven’t had one relapse. All it takes is a little planning, a little cash before financial aid rolls in, and a little bit of faith in the internet.

Most of the tips below are from real experience, and not just regurgitated facts from the internet. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll make it clear what sites I’ve had success or problems with, as well as resources I have yet to try, but feel they deserve a mention.

Have fun and good luck with school this year.

Facts that may make you cringe …

· Most edition changes are not substantial, but allow for the publisher to charge more for the text book

· The bundling of CD-ROMs and other media allow the publisher to charge a lot more for the book (and most likely you don’t need that baloney for your class anyway). PERSONAL NOTE: I have taken only once course where I needed the extra CD’s and junk – Spanish.

· Not all professor’s are aware of what a text book costs, nor do they make the final decision in what books are required for the program

· Textbooks are more expensive than other books to produce. The added pictures, color pages, detailed facts, etc., cost cash to make.

· Older editions are always cheaper than the new ones, and most of the time, at least in my experience; the older edition is just as fine. A TIP: most of the time your school’s library will have some of your textbooks on reserve. If your older edition is missing an article, or devastingly important graph, you can always check it out at the library.

(Much of the above information came from an article by Charlotte Allen ofMindingTheCampus.com. The original article is posted HERE. )

View "How to Buy Cheap Textbooks for College" including sites to save you some hard earned (or slightly stolen) cash!

fly by w.s. merwin

2010-07-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

I have been cruel to a fat pigeon
Because he would not fly
All he wanted was to live like a friendly old man

He had let himself become a wreck filthy and confiding
Wild for his food beating the cat off the garbage
Ignoring his mate perpetually snotty at the beak
Smelling waddling having to be
Carried up the ladder at night content

Fly I said throwing him into the air
But he would drop and run back expecting to be fed
I said it again and again throwing him up
As he got worse
He let himself be picked up every time
Until I found him in the dovecote dead
Of the needless efforts

So this is what I am
Pondering his eyes that could not
Conceive that I was a creature to run from

I who have always believed too much in words

a blessing by james wright

2010-07-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

JUST OFF THE HIGHWAY TO ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA,
TWILIGHT BOUNDS SOFTLY FORTH ON THE GRASS.
AND THE EYES OF THOSE TWO INDIAN PONIES
DARKEN WITH KINDNESS.
THEY HAVE COME GLADLY OUT OF THE WILLOWS
TO WELCOME MY FRIEND AND ME.
WE STEP OVER THE BARBED WIRE INTO THE PASTURE
WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN GRAZING ALL DAY, ALONE.
THEY RIPPLE TENSELY, THEY CAN HARDLY CONTAIN THEIR HAPPINESS
THAT WE HAVE COME.
THEY BOW SHYLY AS WET SWANS. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER.
THERE IS NO LONELINESS LIKE THEIRS.
AT HOME ONCE MORE, THEY BEGIN MUNCHING THE YOUNG TUFTS OF SPRING IN THE DARKNESS.
I WOULD LIKE TO HOLD THE SLENDERER ONE IN MY ARMS,
FOR SHE HAS WALKED OVER TO ME
AND NUZZLED MY LEFT HAND.
SHE IS BLACK AND WHITE,
HER MANE FALLS WILD ON HER FOREHEAD,
AND THE LIGHT BREEZE MOVES ME TO CARESS HER LONG EAR
THAT IS DELICATE AS THE SKIN OVER A GIRL’S WRIST.
SUDDENLY I REALIZE
THAT IF I STEPPED OUT OF MY BODY I WOULD BREAK
INTO BLOSSOM.

beer by charles bukowski

2010-07-14T21:05:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many bottles of beer
I have consumed while waiting for things
to get better
I dont know how much wine and whisky
and beer
mostly beer
I have consumed after
splits with women-
waiting for the phone to ring
waiting for the sound of footsteps,
and the phone to ring
waiting for the sounds of footsteps,
and the phone never rings
until much later
and the footsteps never arrive
until much later
when my stomach is coming up
out of my mouth
they arrive as fresh as spring flowers:
"what the hell have you done to yourself?
it will be 3 days before you can fuck me!"
the female is durable
she lives seven and one half years longer
than the male, and she drinks very little beer
because she knows its bad for the figure.
while we are going mad
they are out
dancing and laughing
with horney cowboys.
well, there's beer
sacks and sacks of empty beer bottles
and when you pick one up
the bottle fall through the wet bottom
of the paper sack
rolling
clanking
spilling gray wet ash
and stale beer,
or the sacks fall over at 4 a.m.
in the morning
making the only sound in your life.
beer
rivers and seas of beer
the radio singing love songs
as the phone remains silent
and the walls stand
straight up and down
and beer is all there is.

monday’s funny pictures of the week – summer dreams

2010-07-12T08:53:00.000-04:00