Tag: Advice

How do you pick a good roommate?

Choosing a good rommate can mak or break your year.

The following is an excerpt from a longer work on college life, and I would love to get your comments or feedback

The quality of your roommates is the most important consideration by far for choosing a place to live. This may seem obvious, but it is surprising how I didn’t think to consider that in looking for a place to live. When I was looking for a place in the dormitories for my second year of college, I made sure I was next door to some friends and that we had a good view. Later, we found out that the other people on that floor were filthy, loud, lazy and belligerent. But the view was nice.

Continue reading “How do you pick a good roommate?”

Study Tip – Pink Noise Fuzzes Out Sound

Pink Noise is like a “warmer” form of static

Our brains quickly learn to ignore it, but it saturates the auditory system and makes it easy to tune out other noises. I find that when I am stressed, I need a quiet environment without distraction to study effectively. This is a tip that works about as effectively as any earplugs or noise-canceling headphones.

Continue reading “Study Tip – Pink Noise Fuzzes Out Sound”

Study Tip – Mind Mapping Videos

A list of Mind Mapping Instructional Videos

I find that the most effective studying uses 3 phases: 1. exposure, 2. incubation, and 3. reiteration. Your brain wasn’t designed for cramming. Like it or not, repeated exposure make things feel important and memorable. It seems boring, but I do not think that there is a good way around it. You can take notes as an outline or mind map. Once you have your notes on paper, let them sit for at least a few hours. Then copy them along with diagrams and reference from the textbook into your own bound notebook. There are a lot of interesting videos about Mind Mapping on Youtube. I have posted a few here.

Continue reading “Study Tip – Mind Mapping Videos”

Finance, Frugality, and Globalization

This is about saving money.

The Boomers had it uniquely good. If you worked in the United States from 1950 to 1980, you made especially good money. If you invested, you got especially good returns. This convinced people that working and saving at a modest rate was all it takes to have a comfortably affluent life.

Continue reading “Finance, Frugality, and Globalization”

Using NaturallySpeaking for college and editing

How to edit for people who hate editing: I hate editing. It’s my least favorite part of the Academic Experience. Editing makes me really anxious because I miss little things like typos and misspellings. Editing for clarity and readability is hard, but it does not give me the same level of worry.

Continue reading “Using NaturallySpeaking for college and editing”

Knife recommendation – the perfect knife

My knife recommendation is an 8 inch Chef’s knife

The frugal student’s kitchen is all about buying inexpensive, in-season products and preparing them at home. To accomplish this, my knife recommendation is a full-tang, 8 inch, non-serrated Chef’s knife. Let me tell you a little about why each of these is critical. Then you will avoid buying something that will be useless in a year.
Continue reading “Knife recommendation – the perfect knife”