Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Return of the Berkeley BlueCard

"The reason why you see your name on your Berkeley BlueCard is because your school has partnered with Higher One to cut school costs, provide faster refund services and offer more student choices through the new card."

So because Berkeley got some cheaper deals here and there, Higher One got to have access to some of my info (which I thought was confidential)??? I had enough of a problem dealing CapitalOne sending me stuff because I signed up to FastWeb, but this? If I sound a little irked, its because this whole "giving out student info because we got a deal on costs" bothered me. I'm sure other schools do it too. In fact, I know other school do the same, but that doesn't take away from much it bothers me. I'd rather wait a little longer for my refund than doing the Berkeley BlueCard thing. This is my opinion so...don't let it steer you away or anything. Check it out for yourself and make your own decision about it. There's tons of pamplets and posters for it all over campus. Get your info.

Monday, July 30, 2007

This is my fourth cancelled class of the summer.

Today, my one and only class of the day was cancelled. This would be cool if I had a car....but I don't. I take NJ transit bus/rail and the Berkeley College shuttle van. So, if my 9:50am class is cancelled, that means I'm stuck on campus from 9:50 to 1:10pm (when the shuttle starts drop-offs.) I was lucky that my mom was home at the time. I called her to pick me up. It was kinda disappointing because the Othello Literary Criticism paper was due today and dude...I worked all night on that thing. I had it done but I was revising it last night so I can get nothing lower than an A. It was a bittersweet cancellation. Instead of going home and crashing on my bed with the A/C on the full blast, I went for the longest run of my life in the Clifton/Nutley bike run park. I was too awake to stay put. That and its about time I drop those darn freshmen 15.


I'll probably have an easy time losing weight watching the Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain food specials. I've never been so repulsed by tofu in my entire life. He ate a 14 day old tofu that's been marinated in spoiled vegetables. Ugh.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Hey you! Wanna save 3 people's lives?

Tomorrow (Wednesday July 25th) is Berkeley's Blood Drive at the Student Center. Did you know that only one pint can help save 3 lives? Imagine how many lives can be saved if all the students at Berkeley donated! I really really wish that I could but according to RedCross.Org, I have to wait a couple of more months for eligibilty because of my piercing and tattoo. But hey, if you're eligible, go for it! It'll only take a few minutes. So, you pretty much get to lay down for a bit, get a little pinch, and later get some sugary treats!

I'll try to stop by the drive and take some pictures of Berkeley kids donating. So, if you're donating and want your picture taken, just shout me a holler and I'll snap a pic.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Hopefully, An Internship

Lately, I've been thinking more and more about what kind of intership I should take on for school. I've always wondered about it but this weekend really made me want to figure out what I think would be a really good intership.

I'm majoring in Management so I can eventually work in the music industry. Whether its managing a venue or a band, I know I want to do something with music. I may not be able to hold on note or have the skill to rock your socks off with a sick guitar riff, but I am good at managing money, networking and tight scheduling. Last Saturday, I attended the Siren Music Festival in Coney Island and saw management at work. I saw how the Village Voice booked and scheduled bands, how they managed vendors like Boost Mobile and Snapple, and how they figured out how to have a big music festival full of top-of-the-indie-chart bands for free! There was marketing and management going on all over the place! Sure, normal people go to concerts to let loose and enjoy the music. I went and had a vision of what I wanted to do as a career! Weird, eh? But imagine...organizing something like this! (Here's a photo of the event.)

While at the concert, I kept seeing people with tags in the crowd and VIP areas. They were all part of something called "The Syn." I've known about "The Syn" (AKA The Syndicate) for a couple of years now. I have had a few friends who were involved with the company and really loved it. Five years later, some are still working with them. They're all about supporting music, which is something that I'm all for.

Tonight, I'm planning on gathering all the information I can about The Syn. I'll also be crossing my fingers and hoping that Berkeley will think the company is good enough to count for my Intership credits.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Berkeley BlueCard

So, today I was walking around campus and I kept seeing flyers saying "Free Ice Cream!" They're everywhere! Upon closer examination, it says that there will be free ice cream at the Student Center tomorrow. "Come activate your Berkeley BlueCard!" I pretty much reacted with an "ugh" and kept walking.



I received my card in the mail a few weeks ago. I was the actual card, too. It had my name printed on it and everything. (That seemed kinda fishy to me. Why would this company have my full name and address? Weird.) I haven't bothered to activate it. It's suppose to be a faster way to get your refunds but...I barely have any refunds! 57 cents is hardly a reason to activate the card. If you have maybe 20 bucks in refunds, I say go for it! Buy a shirt or something. But 57 cents? No thanks. Besides, I already have my own credit card and debit card and that's about as much money juggling as I can handle. Still, I'm definitely passing by the student center and seeing if I can still score some free ice cream. :-)





Classes have been pretty chill. Summer quarter has less weeks in it and so I figured some professors would be all about working and getting all this work done before finals. This is hardly the case. Either I got lucky with picking some laid back professors or summer professors are just plain more relaxed. The assignments seem lighter (meaning no 12 page single space assignments [yet]) and the classes are alright. For example, in English, we read and discuss two Acts of Othello a week. I remember in high school we'd "cram and exam" all in one week!



This week, I'm trying to finish all my assignments early so I can have this weekend homework-free. I'm going a little something called the Siren Music Festval in Coney Island this weekend and I want to be able to just enjoy it without the worry of unfinished assignments looming over me. This is my plan for the whole quarter. I want to get things done earlier rather than finishing everything the night before.



Handing things in on time = better grades.

Friday, July 13, 2007

the High School Kids are Freaking Out!

There have been a lot of kids (and their parents) taking tours around campus this week. Every time I see them around, I make sure to cracka a smile at them. I remember when I took my tour of the school last year and how nervous I was. A kid smiled at me and I totally chilled out. Hopefully, a smile will take away one of these kids' tension and that'll help them enjoy the tour.

Wednesday was the Club Convention outside the Student Center. The only thing I kept hearing was "Free Pizza! Guys! Free Pizza at the quad!" Haha. It was pretty funny. I had some things to take care of at home so I kinda had to leave during activity period. Its cool. The club meetings don't start next week so there's still time to join anything I want.

Thursday, both my classes were cancelled. My morning class didn't meet because my professor decided to give us the period to work on our papers due on Tuesday and to study for our quiz next Thursday. That was pretty generous of him. :-) I have no idea why my other class was cancelled but I didn't complain. Would you complain about a 4 day weekend?

I didn't think so.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Summer Quarter Starting to Heat Up!

According to http://http.weather.com/, Paterson is at 87 degrees and almost 50% humidity. It certainly doesn't feel that way! I was lucky enough to have been able to run from my air conditioned car into an air conditioned classroom this morning. When I stepped outside after the class was over, the overwhelming pang of heat almost made me drop my books! Its soooo humid! Haha. Enough about the weather.



Today in English 103, we watched 3 different film adaptations of Othello. One was a modern-day version released in 1995, one was an old film directed by one of my favorite directors/actors of all time, Orson Wells, and the other film was a much older film starring Lawrence Olivier. The class watched the first couple of scenes of each film and compared and contrasted them. Its nutty how much control movies have over the perception of movies. I mean, every movie had completely different takes on the very same dialogue!

In Managing Informational Systems, I have come to the realization that if I don't get my textbook soon, I will be taking very many notes and that my fingers will probably fall off. Haha.

Anyway, I'm taking a crazy amount of notes in every class because I'm shooting for straight A's this quarter. I pulled it off during my first quarter at Berkeley. I'm pretty sure I can do it again.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy Independence Day

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Yesterday was day two of my summer quarter. I started class at 8am. This is the first time I've had an early class in ages! It was obvious that not a lot of people would be crazy enough to take an 8am class in the summer since there were only about 10 cars in the parking lot. Haha.

The class I had was Organizational Behavior. We did an exercise where we had to describe a picture to another student and the other student had to draw it on the board. Sounds simple, right? Well, its easier said that done. I voluteered to be the reader for the exercise and....man oh man....I stunk! I mean, the picture came out okay (and I felt bad for the drawing student having to deal with my giggly/undescriptive directions) but the class definitely saw that I really needed to take this class. Haha. Hopefully, that'll be the only majorly embarrasing moment of my summer quarter.

After that, I had a 3 hour break so I took this opportunity do drive home and check up on my mom and my little sister. It turned out my little sister's bike accident resulted in a chipped bone on her foot. To cheer her up, I bought her some gummi bears. I stuck around until 12 before driving back for my 12:30pm class.

This class, Managing Informational Systems, sounds like a hoot. Its about digital firms and, I think, computer stuff. The class was short since not a lot of people had books yet. For the time that we were in class, my professor emphasized the importance of shopping around for books. If you're a student on tight budget, internet shopping will save your life! Haha.

Here's a tip: If you can buy a brand new textbook at the student store, go for it. There's nothing better than having your book right there. If you're on a tight budget, like me, buy your books online. I have a bunch of helpful links on the right side of this blog to help you out with that.

Again, happy 4th ,everyone! Be careful with those fireworks and enjoy the day!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Back to School : Summer Quarter

One very very cool thing that I noticed about summer quarter...is the ample parking! There were actual empty spaces in the parking lot at 9:30am! Usually, you'd have to do a couple of rounds to get a good spot but as soon as I rolled up, WHAM, a spot.

Mondays I only have one class. 2 hours of Shakespeare in the summer sounds pretty good to me. My professor seems pretty cool too. You can rate how cool the professor is by how many students come in smiling and already knowing the professor's saying, quirks and procedures. A couple did that with my Professor Costa. Haha. I do the same to Dr. Farrington.

I wish I could have stayed around a little long and say hi to some familiar faces but I had to run back home to take care of my family. My little sister go into a little bicycle accident and my mother just had surgery on her kidneys.

I can already tell this is going to be a loooooooooong first week back.