8 posts tagged “college”
You going for the moustache, John? Since about tenth grade, I've heard that question on a semi-weekly basis. I'm always quick to say no, but my response isn't worth much. Because even if the questioner means to ask if I was growing out a moustache on purpose, the question reminds me that -intended or not-there is sinus fur above my upper lip.
Let's get a couple of things straight. Five-o-clock shadows are not the problem here; full-blown facial hair isn't either. Heck, when I was eight, I wanted sideburns so badly that I grew them using the hairs on my head; they were my only available resources at the time.
It's not even the sub-set, the mustachioed community, that upsets me. I think moustache-growth is a wise choice for a lot of people, but just not for everybody. Pilots? They thrive at mustach-ing. Male flight attendants, too, even though we're talking a totally different style. I'm a 20-year-old sophomore who hasn't fully filled out yet; my facial hair grows in three shades darker than the stuff atop my head, and that's when the beard area grows in at all.
I wasn't necessarily looking for a holiday theme within this developmental dilemma, but one struck me the night before I flew home from college. I had been invited to a themed party, and the theme happened to be moustaches. By late afternoon that day, many of my friends were drawing, painting, and even transplanting hair to the space beneath their noses. Coincidentally, I hadn't the time to partake in my usual 8:00 A.M. electric razor session that morning, and had some thick material of my own to flaunt. For once, I was proud to show up at a party with the moustache-in-training that had been unwanted at all parties prior.
When people asked if I was going for the moustache that night, I proudly nodded in affirmation. Oftentimes, we are quick to take things for granted that don't always come in handy. Maybe it's because I only found reason to be thankful for my moustache this close to Thanksgiving-but it certainly exemplified a whole class of sometimes-useful things that we should keep in mind during the holiday season. Like the bedroom I only sleep in during vacations from school; or the steel envelope opener in my drawer, which I only bother to use when there are onlookers to impress as I open letters.
Even if the occasions when they're useful are far and few, appreciate the many great things in your life this Thanksgiving. But enough about me - and you have yourself a Happy Thanksgiving!
Peace, Love, and Personalized Media,
- John the Intern
There’s a rumor going around that my school plans to rid itself of all printed books and literature in the next 25 years. Somehow I doubt it’s true, but the hypothetical is funny to think about. The transition would just leave too much space. It would be gratifying to see my alma mater blossom into the least claustrophobic school in the country, but that’s about the only foreseeable perk. Space saving is cool and so is the security of digital archives, but let’s face it—books and shelves are essential ingredients for aesthetically-pleasing interior design. To get rid of one would be to render the other useless, and then what would we fill rooms with? Still, after experiencing a year’s worth of frustration at campus libraries and bookstores, the solution doesn’t seem all that bad.
On the surface, my college’s undergraduate library is no more offensive than the one at my high school: No drinks allowed, no talking allowed, and—if you really have to—try not to be too loud. The major difference, though, is that my high school library was just a study space with decorations. Here, I have to interact with the leather-bound stacks that once served as background. And I’ve learned that checking out books is harder than it used to be. Of course, then I only researched within the kids’ section (where the books are arranged by color, and separated into “pop-up” style or “not”.)
Today I have to contend with something called the Dewey Decimal System if I want to find the right title. The name may sound like it belongs to some sort of candy-making machine, but mark my words-- DDS is not delicious or systematic. It’s just an ineffective method of sorting books. Here is the argument I would have with the guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System (presumably Mr. Dewey):
ME: “With all due respect, sir, I find it much easier to find books in stores, when they are classified by genre and positioned alphabetically-by-author. Why don’t libraries just do that?”
MR. DEWEY: “Well does your hot shot bookstore even have an eighth as many texts and multimedia as a college library?”
ME: “No, but a bookstore exists that carries eight times as many books as my bookstore. You can alphabetize no matter how many you have.
MR. DEWEY: “By gosh, Lad, I stand corrected. You have decimated my decimals.
But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like campus bookstores aren’t irritating in their own right. Go in to buy a hoodie your first week there (obligatory,) but don’t waste your time when it comes purchasing books at the beginning of term. 40% of the time they are cheaper elsewhere, 40% of the time you can borrow one from someone who already took the class, and 20% of the time they aren’t even necessary.
Books complicate my life these days, but I’m still glad that they exist. Whether they die out at the hand of the computer scanner--or else by something more Bradbury-esque--I’ll appreciate them while I can.
Peace, Love & Personalized Media,
-John the Intern
There’s a rumor going around that my school plans to rid itself of all printed books and literature in the next 25 years. Somehow I doubt it’s true, but the hypothetical is funny to think about. The transition would just leave too much space. It would be gratifying to see my alma mater blossom into the least claustrophobic school in the country, but that’s about the only foreseeable perk. Space saving is cool and so is the security of digital archives, but let’s face it—books and shelves are essential ingredients for aesthetically-pleasing interior design. To get rid of one would be to render the other useless, and then what would we fill rooms with? Still, after experiencing a year’s worth of frustration at campus libraries and bookstores, the solution doesn’t seem all that bad.
On the surface, my college’s undergraduate library is no more offensive than the one at my high school: No drinks allowed, no talking allowed, and—if you really have to—try not to be too loud. The major difference, though, is that my high school library was just a study space with decorations. Here, I have to interact with the leather-bound stacks that once served as background. And I’ve learned that checking out books is harder than it used to be. Of course, then I only researched within the kids’ section (where the books are arranged by color, and separated into “pop-up” style or “not”.)
Today I have to contend with something called the Dewey Decimal System if I want to find the right title. The name may sound like it belongs to some sort of candy-making machine, but mark my words-- DDS is not delicious or systematic. It’s just an ineffective method of sorting books. Here is the argument I would have with the guy who invented the Dewey Decimal System (presumably Mr. Dewey):
ME: “With all due respect, sir, I find it much easier to find books in stores, when they are classified by genre and positioned alphabetically-by-author. Why don’t libraries just do that?”
MR. DEWEY: “Well does your hot shot bookstore even have an eighth as many texts and multimedia as a college library?”
ME: “No, but a bookstore exists that carries eight times as many books as my bookstore. You can alphabetize no matter how many you have.
MR. DEWEY: “By gosh, Lad, I stand corrected. You have decimated my decimals.
But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like campus bookstores aren’t irritating in their own right. Go in to buy a hoodie your first week there (obligatory,) but don’t waste your time when it comes purchasing books at the beginning of term. 40% of the time they are cheaper elsewhere, 40% of the time you can borrow one from someone who already took the class, and 20% of the time they aren’t even necessary.
Books complicate my life these days, but I’m still glad that they exist. Whether they die out at the hand of the computer scanner--or else by something more Bradbury-esque--I’ll appreciate them while I can.
Peace, Love & Personalized Media,
-John the Intern
My college touts a wide array of academic opportunities, but I wish this emphasis on variety carried over to campus dining. Sure, the cafeteria staff provides plenty of options at each mealtime—it’s just that they all taste the same. No exaggeration: I know what my favorite dish looks like, but it’s at different times been labeled both “calzone” and “cupcake”.
But my main criticism isn’t of the cooks or their laxative-charged foodstuffs; it’s of my own finicky tendencies. I’ve felt these same sentiments build up many times before, and I fear it says something about me…maybe about everyone. It says that if I eat anywhere for four months I’m going to get tired of it. In a sense, it’s only a matter of time with any steady food provider before the romaine lettuce starts to look greener on the other side.
Not to say mass dining is all bad news. As a matter of fact, it offers some commodities that home cooking never did. Just ask any cereal fan: diverse selection (sugary and granola), and someone gets paid to sniff out the stale boxes. Plus, we all know that spaghetti tastes best with black hairs from someone you don’t know (Mom’s were always so blonde and flavorless).
As for finding recourse elsewhere on campus, the pickings are pretty slim. To make matters worse, the few existing alternatives do everything they can to sell themselves short. Seriously, not one of the available eateries will take the plunge and call itself a restaurant. Instead, we have cafes, snack shops, and smoothie joints—not one of which sounds likely to fill a belly. When I arrived in September, I may have freely associated coffee shops with the word “hip”; now, it’s more like “hungry”.
So where do I go from here? There’s always the option of buying property in the middle of campus, building a strip mall, and making sure to include a couple Chicken Kitchens. Or else I’ll just swallow my pride. How long would that tide me over for? And as far as the so-called freshman 15 plague when you go away to school – IMPOSSIBLE I say.
At any rate, I wish the blogosphere a “Happy, Merry whatever you’re celebrating”, and I’ll see you all in the New Year.
Peace, Love, and as always Personalized Media,
-John the Intern
The college life is oft credited for its lack of structure, but I see this as more of a mixed blessing. Because the unforced hand must bear a lot of responsibility, and the choices we make—as perceived by others—are completely our own. And just like under any government structure, students are frequently confronted with trade-offs for which they must pick a side.
In a co-ed dorm with a co-ed bathroom, it’s either privacy or hygiene (you are never alone in there, but it’s the only place you can get a good hand-wash these days); and when it comes to biking across the campus’s full sprawl, it’s either safety or style (refusing to wear a bike helmet may be man at his most irrational, but for some reason [the chin strap], many share his stance.) When it comes to finding good outside news coverage, however, our choice is more of an ultimatum. The only two options: ignorant bliss, or find it for yourself. So here is where my summer internship at DailyMe REALLY made it easy to choose the latter.
The only universal adjectives to describe a college campus are “insulated” and “digital” and hopefully DailyMe will find a large captive audience in my demographic. I mean, it’s not that no other news reaches us: each dining hall is well stocked with copies the regional rag, and we also receive a student-run daily. When I pick one of those up, though, I seldom get beyond the classified ads (psychological experimenters offer up to $25-a-week for willing subjects). Bottom line: I seriously give DailyMe props for creating a platform to give me all the information I want in the most convenient way possible and FREE – muy importante to the average college kid.
And it adds some structure to my day, too. I chose the automatic print delivery option (the only dependable paperboy left in this world), and it’s the best alarm clock I could ask for. My laserjet’s print-in-progress sound is just what I need to get my feet on the floor (I love the smell of toner in the morning). The way I see it, this system will only fail to wake me come the day when there is no news to print—and is it even worth waking up, in that case?
As far as my former Florida officemates - well, I haven’t seen them since long before their launch date. I do I share the occasional text message, email, IM and/or phone conversation with Mrs. Boss. It seems as though things are off to a real good start. I did hear that the atomic clock synchronizing dilemma peaked once again with the changing of weeks for Daylight Savings this year, but it’s safe to say that was a secondary business interest of the CEO.
And now for the part of my blog you really want to know…college life is awesome! (but you knew that already – right?) - More to come about the daily trials and tribulations of my freshmanhood in my upcoming blogs. The DailyMe Intern is back baby!
Peace, Love, and Personalized Media -
-John the Intern
I always count my blessings that the Earth is—beyond a reasonable doubt—round and without end. Our ancestors put up with misconceptions about a flat planet for years, but could modern man even handle the notion of a “terminal edge”? We have evolved into a species that always fears the finish, and our habits verify this fact (when was the last time that television-watchers were satisfied with a series finale?). Of course, this idea is no better put to work than by our farewell customs: people these days would prefer a novelty e-card to the warmth of a genuine goodbye hug, and I’m no exception. This is one reason why it will be difficult to wrap up my internship at DailyMe come the end of the week.
Yes: by this time on Friday, I will be putting my seat in the full upright position in preparation to land at an airport close to college. But before I recede from the blogosphere completely, I’d like to reflect on some of the DailyMe team members who made my summer fun and informative (FUNformative!). The first word that comes to mind is “roast”, but those are usually done with permission.
The CEO/Founder a.k.a. The Founder/CEO: The dual-title alone explains why this guy got the corner office, but don’t think for a second that our fearless leader lacks humility. This is a man who shares a refrigerator with his employees, which says a lot more than “Please! Call me by my first name, and shorten that to a nickname if you’re promoted to management”…we have that policy, too. The Chief was never a stickler on time, but time was often cruel to him. Like the time he bought three atomic clocks for the office, only to find that they were out of synch. We did “eeny-meeny-miny-moe” to decide which one read correctly.
Mrs. Boss a.k.a. 20-Words-Or-Less: I’d like to keep this reflection short and sweet, because that was my direct supervisor’s style. She has plenty of fun things to talk about, but wait until lunch to hear about them. Always the champion of focus--Mrs. Boss can bring a meeting back to center from just about any digression (just about any digression), and sometimes manages to fit an eight-hour workday into six. She taught me a lot about Sales and Marketing (her two areas of expertise), and skillfully wore both hats throughout my internship (three hats, if you count the DailyMe manual-fit cap we produced for a convention). But seriously, goodbye to my partner in crime, and biggest fan (second to my grandmother).
The V.P.s a.k.a. The Veeps a.k.a. The Two Programmers a.k.a. Thing 1 and Thing 2: These guys only have one thing in common—their job--but it happened to be the only thing I was using as a basis for nicknames; this is why they have been aggregated for the sake of description. Not that they really mind, having spent months aggregating your relevant news with their well-tweaked DailyMe algorithms. You could almost say it brings things full circle. Either way, these are some very particular characters: they like their work hard, their lunches cheap, and their cubicles by the window.
At the end of the day, I’m happy to have worked with such a lively crew. These co-workers taught me both the written and unwritten lessons of working for a company, and the only ones I neglected to learn were in messy cursive. I will sign-off now, but not for the last time. I plan to make guest web appearances throughout the school-year, and cannot wait to keep you posted on all irrelevant things DailyMe. (And of course the actual launch of DailyMe, scheduled in the upcoming weeks!)
Goodbye all!
As always – Peace, Love, and Personalized Media.
-John the Intern
The average life follows a linear path: a person goes to school, moves away for college, joins the workforce, lands a spouse, and ultimately shifts focus to the next generation. In the board-game Life, you can fit that all into one afternoon…and you get to skip puberty. But, unless you steal play-money from the bank when no one’s looking, which journey is more satisfying? No matter how many times you roll a “10”, the simulation will always pale in comparison to the real deal—with all of its variables, emotions, and surprises.
With the same logic, though, I would even say that the real linear life leaves something to be desired. Not to say that we should completely buck convention on the path to maturity (our war-time ancestors didn’t have a choice), but a few twists and turns never hurt. My internship this summer was one such diversion—I got a taste of office life before matriculating to college—and the experience was beneficial. My only concern is that I’ll be too much of a stiff when thrust back into the student life come mid-September.
Even the simple things, like living with a roommate, will require some adjustment. I’ve been able to concentrate all summer within the semi-privacy of a cubicle, but it’s doubtful that my dorm room will insulate desks in the same manner. Would it be rude, bizarre, both, or neither to place a plastic wall between my roommates workspace and my own? And if it creates tension, will our RA resolve the problem as effectively as a corporate HR rep? I need to forget these luxuries.
I also run the risk of entering a classroom with flawed expectations. Though most universities boast a student-oriented faculty that is prepared to spend time with pupils outside of lecture, I doubt that any would want to compare work-hours with my boss. Seriously, this is a media specialist that is willing to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and overtime! I guess people care most about your quality of work when they are paying for it. (The same reason our building managers insist that the indoor gardeners water the plants for five whole hours at a time).
Perhaps the best thing I picked up at DailyMe was the art of professional decorum, but even this will be a mixed blessing in my new environment. It’s been a season of well-articulated greetings and firm handshakes, two tools seldom used amongst my peers. They say that giving a hi-five is like riding a bike, but my form is mechanical and out-of-practice. I shudder at the thought of re-learning higher level street skills like the shake n’ snap, the pinky swear, and especially the roundhouse kick.
As you can see, my successful release back into the wild will require some effort. But do I regret taking a quick break from the straight-and-narrow life’s usual order of events? Not even for a second. It was like a non-committal opportunity to try out different career cards, which is better than choosing one arbitrarily on the 21st space of your proverbial game board. I only have a couple weeks left!
Peace, Love, and Personalized Media.
-John the Intern
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