With Labor Day behind us, the public pools are starting to be drained and the leaves are beginning to fall. Summer is unofficially over. So, there’s no better time to recap the season then right now. Here’s my list of “Stories of the Summer”. Did I miss any? What did you feel was the most important news? Drop me a line sometime.

-Jake (Aaron Rochester’s dog) escapes
-Jaxson Stark tragedy
-North High wins state baseball title
-Michael Jackson death and surrounding drama
-City Council vs. porch furniture
-Three year old Evelyn murdered in SSC
-Female ex-jailers sue Dakota County
-Longtime businessman Dwight Hauff dies
-Another successful Saturday in the Park
-Musketeers name new head coach
-Jon and Kate breakup (…just kidding)

Say…doesn’t this look like a great topic for a daily SCJ front page poll or Speak Out? Alert the nearest editor.

-DeRoin.

I had so much fun offering up recommendations on how to save money at college; I’ve got some more advice for you freshmen and other college newbs out there. This time, check out my list of the nine types of people to avoid during the trials and tribs of dorm living.

-The smelly kid that never does laundry
Distinguishing characteristics: He (odds on favorite: it’s almost always a he) wears the same hoodie for a week straight; unlucky roommate finds any excuse to leave the stink pit.

-That mean girl whose always “trying to study”
Distinguishing characteristic: Always threatening to ‘tell on you’ to her RA when you’re playing hallway soccer outside her door at 9pm on a weekday.

-The new kid that wants to be in every club
Distinguishing characteristic: Is elsewhere all the time! It’s the white Protestant guy that you see during the first meeting of the African-American Students union AND the Catholic Daughters club.

-The overly astute Continuing Ed. student
Distinguishing characteristic: Asks dozens of unnecessary questions every class no matter what the assignment is– “What size font should our papers be typed in?”

-The senior guy patrolling for freshmen girls
Distinguishing characteristics: This cooler-than-thou species hits on every eighteen year old blonde he sees. Beware, he might have a cool party (and a popped collar), but he probably gets around more than Tupac and Digital Underground.

-The grandiose athlete
Distinguishing characteristic: This All-Conference second teamer thinks he can take Lebron James off the dribble or hit a Johan Santana changeup with ease and tells you all about it at dinner everyday.

-The student that always brings a laptop to class
Distinguishing characteristic: Actually playing Spider Solitaire, watching YouTube videos, or browsing eBay while the professor thinks he/she is diligently taking high-tech notes.

-Psychology majors
Distinguishing characteristics: They all convince themselves that they have the condition that they studied last week and are always stressed out!!!!!!11

-The hardcore party animal majoring in Athletic Training or Int’l Studies
Distinguishing characteristics: A one-time hot shot jock in the small pond he/she came from, this type talks up a huge game and tries to drink an even bigger one; don’t expect to see them on the Dean’s List or making it to 8 AM Monday/Friday classes.

If you steer clear or these annoying and/or hazardous people, your days will be a lot brighter. Just hope that you never become one of them!!!

PeAcE,
C. DeRoin.

I have good news and bad news, high school class of 2009 heading off to universities and colleges (and to anyone else enrolling or re-enrolling in higher education this fall). First, the good news- college is fun (but you should already know that)! Now, the bad news- it costs way too much (I hope you knew that). But you get what you put in it…and I found a few ways to put in a lot fewer dollar bills.

At the end of last school year, I gave a couple of presentations at my old high school (South Sioux City High represent) in the Economics classes about how to finance college and then make it through as debt-free (read between the lines: cheap) as possible. I offered tips and wacky stories from my experience as a collegiate and threw around numbers of what makes up actual college tuition costs, shared ways on how to cut corners economically, and preached how to hustle up and pay off student loans in no time.

Now it’s your turn- general public- to learn a few of my frugal secrets for succeeding in college. Some quick samples are below. But I have a whole three-part DVD seminar available for two easy payments of $29.99 on the subject if you really want more insight. I’ll even throw in a free ShamWow if you order now. (Maybe I’m just kidding for now, but you can money anyway…and I WILL produce those sessions and an infomercial!)

Without further ado—a bunch of actual and important tips:

-Buy Used Books. A) They are cheaper. B) They may already have the important stuff highlighted with notes in the margins…less reading for you!

-Always have cash or a debit card on you at all times. Never get a credit card no matter how many freebies the bank’s reps have at their booth during welcome week. Snatch the free cookies, pens, and balloons then skedaddle. I’m convinced credit cards are incarnated evil. Plus you can still build up your credit score by paying your bills (cell phone, cable, electricity) online by linking them to your debit card or bank account’s routing number.

-You won’t have cable, water, or power bills to pay when you live on-campus. So, do that! Sure room and board might cost more than renting an apartment and paying your own utilities, but the experience is priceless. You meet way more people and can partake in all the campus clubs and activities without even leaving. Plus, during the winter—no need to warm up your car while scraping the windshields.

-Embrace store brands. You’ll instantly get to know and love HyVee’s Midwest Country Fair and WalMart’s Great Value brands.

-Don’t think refund checks are “free money”. Schools offer checks once a semester if their financial aid gurus over estimated the amount you needed to take out in a loan. So, they billed you for this amount, and then gave it back to you. I advise you re-invest it in next year’s loans…don’t blow it on a party that Friday night.

-Take advantage of work-study and get an on-campus job and take benefit from the perks. You work at the bookstore: get first dibs on ‘damaged’ goods like clothes at cheap to free prices. You got a job at the cafeteria or coffee house: free food…I mean someone has to do quality control, right? You work in the mailroom: free subscription to whatever magazine anyone on campus orders…read then deliver. How about the library: get paid to do your homework.

-Don’t lend any of your movie collection to friends other than your roommate. You’ll never see those DVDs (or cassettes!) ever again. The same goes for dishes, CDs, etc. I have the ‘roommate exception’ because you know where they sleep!

-Carpool. As corny as it is, wait ‘til your shopping list grows or your roommate or friends down the hall needs to run errands, too. Plus, late night adventures running up and down WalMart aisles are always way more fun with a gang of people.

-And finally, as you soon as see the light at the end of the college tunnel and score your first job after graduation, don’t blow your first real paychecks on a fancy new car…pay off your student loans!!! That $50,000 investment will follow you around forever if you don’t tackle it right away. Invest seemingly compounds continuously on some of those things as soon as you step on that stage and grab your diploma.

In addition, check out this link: 118 Ways to Save Money in College. This site was my inspiration to compile my own list, plus I co-sign on quite a few of their suggestions, too.

You have any unique tips? Shoot me a line in the comments or at chrisderoin@gmail.com.

PeAcE,
C. DeRoin.

Fashionably late for your Friday, it’s on with another edition of “The ‘90’s On My Mind”- the only blog where you can help me reminisce over the good times…from last decade. In elementary school, it was all about NBA gear, high socks with Nike flip-flops, and tight Lee jeans. But we had to grow up. So today, let’s set the way back machine to 1996 and me in middle school.

Ahh, adolescence…boy-girl parties in your parents’ basement, traveling basketball teams, name brand clothes, and well…that was about all we needed back then. You wanted to be ‘cool kid’? Of course you did, so you know these fabric fibers well. So grab your huge, heavy Doc Marten sandals for the summer and windbreaker jogging suit with the tear-off pants for winter, and jump back on the catwalk.

First came Tommy Hilfiger. No one knew or cared who we was, we just worse his name all over baggy jeans, polos, t-shirts, and underwear in red, white, and blue. Tommy became a household name in the urban and suburban communities and schools thanks for Hip-Hop acts like Snoop Doggy Dogg and Naughty By Nature rockin’ his gear in videos and TV performances. From there, we all jumped the bandwagon and never looked back…until high school that was. Around the turn of the millennium, the trend was to shop at the Goodwill and look as wacky, while thrifty as possible. Jump Rope for Heart tees were the rage while Tommy became ‘too mainstream’ for the cool kids to wear anymore. Heavily imitated (Abercrombie & Fitch, Old Navy, Lucky Brand, etc.) but never under priced, Hilfiger is still around…but focusing more on upscale men’s wear these days.

In about 1998 as I progressed to junior high, “for us, by us” broke out of Queens, New York and became for “everyone”…apparently. All the jocks and fellas had a New Era fitted in every color to match their Fubu jeans with Fubu baseball and football jerseys, of the 05 variety. We rocked them like there was no tomorrow while listening to Jay-Z and DMX. A good thing, too, tomorrow was fleeting. Fubu knockoff jerseys and jeans popped up at every swap meet, flea market, and ethnic fashion spot (with numbers like 07, 10, and 01). But it wasn’t like Fubu didn’t inspire its real competitors, either though. Companies like Phat Farm and Ecko both took cues from Fubu. By 2000, not even LL Cool J could sell us Fubu anymore. So no longer popular or popping up in every music video next to a Mercedes or shiny suit, Fubu has expanded into the tuxedo and men’s suit market today.

Still got some of these clothes in your closet?? Don’t front like you don’t. My Tommy gear lasted into college and I still got some Fubu stashed in the back of my drawers. I might have to dig up some pics. In the meantime, why not share your own?

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

Kids are getting dumber, or is it- more dumb? SMH.

Well, anyway you look at it; keyboards are making the written word marginally obsolete (good for me, I had terrible penmanship in elementary school). With the advent of chat rooms (hey, now that sounds like another “90’s on my Mind” topic…agreed?) and text messaging, spelling and punctuation has gone out the window. LOL.

If a verb has a ‘G’ ending or a phrase can be turned into an an acronym, it ain’t worth spelling out. Ya know what I’m sayin’. It sure makes writin’ shorter, but English is turning into a collection of slang, broken sentences, and movie quotes in today’s generations. Time saving sure, and I’m as guilty as junior high Joe or Jenny and I’m not suggesting we push for a return to Shakespearean English, ‘cuz thou art would be ye ol’ upmost terrible!! ROFL! But let’s take some value in the written and spoken word, aight?!? How do you feel?

ttyl, c u.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

I just got back from the Morningside Kiosk literary magazine Poetry Slam. A whole host of people crammed into a basement with coffee, cookies, and a mic to hear 15 amateur slam poets throw down with their finest free verse. It was mad fun to hear all the styles and subjects that came from the competition’s entrants. Some cool dude in a purple shirt named Greg smashed the competition in all three rounds en route to the $100 grand prize.  If you know him or are him, hit me up and I’ll give you your props.

I was the last person eliminated in the semi-finals and took home nothing but a few compliments. I’m definitely going to slam again.

So, hey, people with connections!! Let’s host a city-wide slam at the Public Library or somewhere else, sometime soon. We have a scene of writers young and old alike that could come together and express their passion.

PeAcE,
‘Dice’.

You got some resource to do? Whether it’s the history of popcorn or the biography of a world leader, this is my starting point, always. I’m just old enough to have slid by using it as a primary source throughout my academic career. But nowadays, teachers and especially college professors are hip to the game. They sometimes write conditions into assignments banning students from using Wikipedia, while some have outright blocked the entire site as a source since the website’s information is open to editing by any average Joe, which can lead to inaccurate or incomplete ‘facts’. But is this really a smart idea by teachers? 

Any savvy researcher can get around this blockade since everything valid on Wikipedia is referenced to another source in the footnotes. So, Wikipedia is actually just a compilation data center that links access to every source it pulls from unlike the one-and-only stop of old World Book or Britannica Encyclopedias (which were typically my sole point of reference for elementary and middle school assignments). But then again, like every bunch has its bad apples, lazy students don’t read anything past the main Wiki page thus giving educators validity to their bans. But then again (again!), these types of students are the ones known for going through the motions not really trying to maximize their time in education. Meanwhile, real students studying any topic at hand will usually always dive deeper into a subject of their interest and read scores of sources. And Wikipedia seems to be the best and most complete and accessible card catalog of internet information we have. 

So where do you stand on Wikipedia?

-PeAcE,
DeRoin.

Whether you are a high school student, a college student, or a professional in the world of education, it is about this time of the year when you realize you are half way done.  As a first year teacher, I cannot believe the year has gone by so quickly.  Looking back I wish I had not stressed so much over the little things.  As you start the second half of the school year, what do you wish you would have done differently?  What is your goal for part two?