All ready for our big day

So why is the blog all gussied up, smelling fresh, dressed to kill?  Today’s the big day for our blog team in that we are presenting on our blog in class.  Hello Class!  Hello Professor!  So yeah, we’ll be presenting:

• What we’ve done
• What we’ve learned
• Why we should all receive honorary masters and doctorates from UCCS not to mention $100 $1,000 $1,000,000 each, for bringing such fame and recognition to the University.
• Ok…ok we’ll settle, why we deserve an “A” for our work.

Anyway, so if you are free this evening and want too meet up with your beloved Lookout bloggers stop by (short notice, I know, but I wanted to throw some love your way).  We are in Dwire 103.  Otherwise, leave a comment and grade us on how we did.  Just make sure its a glowing review be honest, we can take it.  :)

Oh yeah, if you would like to become a writer for this blog, drop us a hint in the comments.

To Facebook or not to Facebook…

 

That is the question. 

So I need everybody’s help on this one.  Up till now I’ve sort of avoided the online social networking thing.  It’s kind of a hard to turn a blind eye towards it though, since that’s what everybody is on while at UCCS.  Either there are some great resources for doing homework or there is much more than just having friends online.

Leave your reasons of why you love facebook in the comments… and if you convince me to get onto facebook, would you add me as a friend?  :)

UPDATE – Ok, so I joined up.  Look out facebook, Billy’s here.  Let’s see if this is really something worthwhile.

Gobble Gobble...

With Thanksgiving only being a few short days away, I thought I would share with you all my favorite post-thanksgiving meal!! The recipe is as follows:

1. Begin with a piece of sandwich bread and smother it with plain mash potatoes.

2. Apply a second piece of bread over the taters.

3. Load the piece of bread with your favorite type of turkey meat (Mine is dark!)

4. Add another piece of bread over the meat.

5. Drizzle the bread with gravy.

6. Add on another piece of bread.

7. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

P.S. Don't forget to buy the new Kanye West album!!!!

Shop Cora!

This is a website solely dedicated to finding "trendy, affordable, and fashionable women's clothing"!
I thought it was a great site to check out if your looking for those items that you might only wear out once or twice and don't want to spend a whole bunch on. The site also offers plenty of cute "staple" items, like dresses.

A few of my favorites up right now:

London Pocket Dress

Wednesday Jumper

Liquid Leggings

So, if your on a budget, don't mind ordering online, and need to pick up that must have item that you might only be able to get in Denver...check it out!

SHOP CORA

Bill's favorite tools: Google Reader

With this blog starting to takeoff, wouldn’t you like to know of an easier way to keep track of the posts on this blog as well as all of the other sites you peruse on the internet?  I want to share a pretty sweet tool that I’ve been using for a couple of years now that I think is pretty awesome.  Google Reader.

Google Reader is an online RSS Feed aggregator.  There are quite a few RSS feed readers but here are the reasons I chose Google:

• Accessed from any computer
• Very fast, uses very little bandwidth
• Awesome keyboard shortcuts that make is super easy to use (just type a question mark for cheat sheet layover when logged in)
• Works really well on a small screened phone

Google Reader makes it easy for me to stay up to speed on what’s going on, when I have the time to get up to speed.  Just about every site… ahem :), has an RSS feed.

PANDORA

No no no... This has nothing to do with opening a box and unleashing unimaginable horrors upon the world....




This post is about Pandora Radio: The Music Genome Project....



By a show of hands, who has heard of Pandora before? Oh wait... you can't show your hands, so why don't you just comment and let people know how awesome it is... For those of you who haven't heard about this fantastic website.... Listen up!

Pandora is an amazing site for students who want to jam out to their favorite tunes, but they lack the necessary MP3 player, disc-man, or cassette tape player (wow... I'm really dating myself there...lol) to do so. All a person needs to have to access the abundance stored on Pandora Radio are three things: a live Internet connection, a pair of working headphones, and a login name. Pandora is a completely free service for all who want to join...

The beauty of Pandora Radio is tha it's like a radio station except that you have a much higher degree of personal control. Have you ever been listening the radio and a particular song comes on and you're like... "Oh my gosh!! I hate this song! I wish they'd never play it AGAIN!" With Pandora Radio, that wish could be granted! All you have to do is check a box saying that you don't like the song and it'll never be played again... I could go into much greater detail on some of the other cool things Pandora Radio allows you to do, but i think its alot more fun if you get to experiment with it yourself.... So next time you're in the libary and that obnoxious group next top you just won't stop talking, instead of flipping out and busting some skulls, why don't you give Pandora Radio a try... Pandora.com Until next time. Cya!

Have You Heard?...

Hello UCCS LOOKOUT enthusiast!! And by that I mean Bill, Matt and Trish! I recently came along a website (woot.com) and I thought it might prove useful to us all! The concept behind the website is everyday a new item is posted at a VERY discounted price and remains up for sale until the end of the day, or until the item is sold out. At 11:59 pm the item is replaced with a new item for the day.

Although this might sound like an amazing deal, there are a few drawbacks that go along with this opportunity...

1. There is only one item per day sold. And once its gone, its gone.

2. Each woot.com product is discontinued at 11:59 pm and you may not be able to purchase it again at the website.

3. No customer support. If you purchase an item you are not pleased with, you're stuck with it.

4. Woot will never tell you how many units remain available in a given day.


So, check it out!! Let me know what you think!

BLOGGER SOUNDOFF: Why did you choose UCCS?

Alright, since this is a UCCS blog, I figured this would be a good question for maybe those of you considering UCCS.  Here are my honest reasons for choosing UCCS:

• Close to family
• State School
• Not too large of a school
• Parental Approval

Overall I chose UCCS because it was the most convenient, highest quality school in the Colorado Springs area.

So that’s my sound off on why I chose UCCS.  Why did you choose UCCS?  Share your reasons in the comments.

BLOGGER SOUNDOFF: What are your thoughts on mirror being installed in the back of the Dwire computer classrooms?

Pretty self-explanatory. There is a mission underway to put mirrors in the back of every Dwire computer room so that professors can monitor what students are doing on the computer during their lecture.

My thoughts:

-Is this really going to stop students from looking at personal websites/pages?
My guess....probably not. What a lot of the older generation doesn't realize is that, we can multitask and are have been multitasking (especially with technology) almost since birth. :) I would also venture so far as to say that people can listen, comprehend, and even participate to lecture even if they have a different page up besides the power points on their screen.

-People bring laptops to class, are they going to monitor what students start to put on their laptobs as well?
Well I would hope not! I can understand for tests, but for during class? What if I don't want to print off 300 pages of slides?

-What is the punishment for being on a different website while in class?
Calling you out in front of the class? Well...I don't really see the effectiveness in that because guess what-Everyone else is probably doing the same thing. Or possibly even IM'ing you or Facebook chatting. And you know this because if you are sitting behind someone, anywhere in the class (highly probable) you can actually see their screen too! Furthermore, isn't that a slight to the interest level of the lecture? Purhaps if the material was more interactive or grade dependant upon following intently along, we wouldn't be having the mirror problem in the first place.

-Are they going to be "warning" students that they will now be monitored-not by a network controlled reporting system-but by the highly innovative mirror in the back of the class!
Oh no!! What are we going to do?! Stop taking computer classes? Maybe we'll just bring in our iPod instead and use that....big difference I know.


Anyway, these are just my thoughts that I wonder if anyone asked a students opinion and how this is really going to be implemented/a good use of business school funds. Let me know your added thoughts or if you think I'm being completely ignorant. Thanks!

Easy Money

For those who don't need money, you should probably skip this post. For the rest of us, coming into a bit of money is a good thing. Many of you already probably have heard of these ways to make a little money online. These are some of the things that I use to accomplish this:

Craigslist

Craigslist is one of the best services out there because the service is entirely free. Here are the reasons why I'm all about craigslist:

• Free
• People come to you or meet you to get what you are selling. (Minimal effort on your part)
• No packing on your part
• No service fees, free
• If priced competitively, sales are generally made within an hour of posting.
• simple, easy to use

So what sells well on craigslist? Pretty much anything, I've sold cars, computer equipment, electronics, furniture. Most of which aren't good candidates for shipping. I've always used pictures, which helps move things much more quickly. Don't overdo your ads though, less is more. Making sales is just a small part of using craigslist, there's much more.

Half.com
Half.com is best for selling media (e.g. - books, music, movies, games). Being at UCCS, most students use Half.com for textbooks. Half is important because craigslist only sells to the local region. There just isn't a huge amount of demand for certain types of media, (to include your outdated chemistry textbook) With Half, you get a nationwide audience. I've mainly sold textbooks on half, but I've also started selling a few games and will look to be selling some unused DVD movies I've got laying around. Here are my reasons for using Half.com:

• Get more money from your textbook
• Media Mail rates are cheap. I only use media mail rates, no express shipping for me.
• Easy to sell obscure titles.
  

Clearly one big site is missing; eBay. I've never used eBay because of not having something that wouldn't sell easily on craigslist or Half.com. Having said that, I think eBay is a good option for rare, hard to find items. We had the owner of an ebay seller, Consider-It-Sold, in our marketing class who made a good case for bringing things in to a seller to have them listed. I like the idea of doing this to help me get started, whenever that is. The seller can do all of the work, and I get to learn from the sidelines.

So these are some methods that I've found for making some easy money. What do you do to make easy money? Please share with everyone in the comments!!

Parking Off Campus: Part 4

Number 4! My last installment of "Parking Off Campus" It's sad I know, but it had to come some time. Sorry, I'm finished reminiscing and now I'll actually get to the point of this post.

Parking Off Campus 4 is the most exclusive parking post because it only applies to a handful of students. If you have class that gets out before 8AM(and I say that tongue in cheek, because I'm not aware of any classes that early) or if you have class that starts after 6PM, then this post is for you. The reason for this is that parking is only allowed here at those times. Between 8AM-6PM, this area is a "tow-away" zone, unless its a federal holiday or a weekend. But how many of us actually come to school on federal holidays or weekends....really? The last parking area I would recommend for students is actually a just a side street near campus. However, if like me, you are one of the students who has class during the aforementioned times, it can be a great location to park. Here's a very simple map of how to get to the street.

Exclusive Parking

Once you're parked, its a piece of cake to get back to campus. All you have to do is simply follow the road you entered the neighborhood on to get back to campus. Easy as pie! Man... all these food analogies are making me hungry. So, instead of rambling on for hours while my stomach growls, I'm simply going to close this series out. I hope this Four Part Installment of Parking Off Campus was helpful and that we all learned something. Good luck with your parking off campus! This is your helpful UCCS Lookout advocate signing off! See ya next time!

Parking Off Campus: Part 3

Back for more? Really!?!? The first two tips were not good enough for you? Ok, ready for the third installment of Parking Off Campus? Here we go...

Bates Elementary School

This is perhaps the most controversial location to park "off-campus." This location is only for the most daring among you. Although, if you are a student who lives in COB, it is BY FAR the fastest way to get there. The location is controversial however because there are alot of "No-Parking" signs. They are very confusing and hard to know where they apply. Therefore, this is the only parking location where you possibly risk a ticket. So, if you park here. Good luck! =)

Map to Bates

Now. Getting back to school is just as important. There are two different routes to get to COB: the Legal one and the Illegal one. When I say Illegal, I simply mean that it involves a little bit of jaywalking. It is really up to you. Just check out the map and pick the route that works best for you.

Map Back to School

Knobody

I am also a big fan of Kanye and love all his music! Here is another name I thought I would drop.

"Knobody"

My friend introduced me to it and I really like it. Similar to JayZ in a way...
My favorites are: "Back" and "On My Job"

Check it out yourself!

So I know that Halloween is all old news now, but I wanted to recap on some of the best halloween costumes I saw this year. Please feel free to add some that you thought were great too!

Couples Ideas:

• Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus
• Pebbles and Bam Bam
• Donnie and Marie
• Barack Obama and Sarah Palin (ironic)
• and the very overdone..... Ketchup and Mustard, Plug and Socket, Adam and Eve... etc.

Group Ideas:

• Crayons (my friends had a different color Crayola dress and hat and had a ton of colors to choose from!)
• Girls from Clueless
• Team from Anchorman
• Fast Food icons (i.e.: The King from Burger King, Wendy, Ronald McDonald)
• Power Rangers
• The face paint and everything from Kiss

Individual Bests:

• A cat lady
• Dwight Schrute
• Bob Ross
• Carmen Sandiego
• A troll

My roomates and I (the two of them are dating) went as the Deal or No Deal girls and he was Howie Mandel. It turned out to be a good one. But besides from Three's Company, there aren't many ideas for one guy and two girls.

Anyway, please add some of your ideas for next year!

New Kanye Joint

I don't want to talk about school...politics...or anything that we hear enough about everyday. I'll let my fellow bloggers discuss those topics! Music is my passion and as my profile states Kanye West is my favorite artist of all-time!! He has a new album coming out next month...hopefully...and I want to share with you all some songs off his new album. Here is one..it's called Heartless. Listen to the lyrics. Hope you enjoy!