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DIY Holiday

By Dan Marley
12/16/08
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We're now entering the peak of holiday season, and you may be struck with the sudden urge to throw a holiday party or just make your apartment a little more Christmasy...or Hannukah-y...or Kwanza-y...or whatever. The good news is, it doesn't have to break the bank. Tiny Tim is in fashion this year, so don't be ashamed to make a budget and check it twice.

Vampire Electronics Suck Your Cash

By Stuart Schultz
10/29/08
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I have a friend. And her father used to be cheap. For example, he'd ask his wife to use as few pieces of toilet paper as possible after going to the bathroom. However, along comes the environmental movement (which, by the way, we're all for), and instead of being cheap

Q&A with Harlon Cohen

By Christopher Schonberger
10/15/08
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When it comes to surviving college, Harlan Cohen is the guru that students can turn to with any question, from how to make the most of on-campus opportunities to how to decide whether or not to sleep with the cute lax player from Econ.

Life 101

By Dan Marley
10/03/08
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How much of a man are you? Is that a sexist question? Popular Mechanics has a quiz that tests basic “manliness,” but it would be more appropriately labeled as a test of

L'enfer c'est l'immobilier (Hell Is Real Estate)

By Tory Hoen
9/29/08
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Remember in my last blog when I talked about the wonders of Parisian real estate? I take it all back. In terms of real estate, this week has been one of soaring highs and devastating lows. Most recently, lows.

Buying a Mattress

By Christopher Schonberger
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Quick Tips
  1. Make the Measurements – Don’t go on a bed-buying quest before you have measured your room and assessed the viability of moving large items into your building. If that California King mattress doesn’t fit through the door or into the elevator, then you may just end up looking overzealous.
  2. Think as an Investor – Barring any disasters or sudden decisions to move abroad, a good mattress should ideally last you a decade. I don’t have to tell you how many nights of sleep that is…it’s a lot. Consider putting some time and money into the buying process.
  3. Negotiate – Mattress merchants come from the same stock as used car salesman. Don’t be afraid to bluff a better deal to shave some dollars off the ticket price.
  4. How Do You Sleep? – Some people are thrown off by this question, but it’s commonly asked during the mattress hunt. If you know you’re a side-sleeper vs. a back-sleeper, you will want a different level of firmness and this factor can help cut down the options.
  5. Plan Ahead – While some chains and local warehouses can deliver you a mattress next day, most places will take longer to ship and you may have to wait for your bed to be in stock. Unless you want to be sleeping on an air mattress for the first few weeks in your new apartment, think about buying before you move in (but not before you’ve had a chance to measure the room).

Beds can be copped for anywhere from $0 (if you find them in a dumpster) to $2,000+ (if you go high-end or require the comforts of a Tempur-Pedic mattress). But if you are going to choose a single item to spend a reasonable amount of money on in your new apartment, a respectable bed is

The Dumpster and Craigslist, Redefined

By Jason Richards
9/26/08
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The Internet has developed a pretty advanced marketplace for disposing of stuff you don’t want and finding people who sell what you do want. But if people didn’t believe there’s always room for improvement

Filling Up Your Bookshelves

By Orli Van Mourik
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Quick Tips

  1. A stocked bookshelf is powerful – Don’t underestimate the fringe benefits of a well-stocked bookshelf. It adds some flavor to the décor, creates a source of conversation when you have visitors, and may even provide entertainment if you get the strange urge to actually read.
  2. Impress with eclectic books – An easy way to appear well-read is to stock bookshelves with the lesser-known works of famous authors. Examples: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Pale Fire by Nabokov. Special bonus points if you actually read them!
  3. Chicks dig poetry - Balance out brawn with a little verse and win major sensitivity points. Time-tested classics: Rainer Maria Rilke, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost.
  4. Become a word jockey - Reading is the best way to exercise that linguistic muscle. Soon you’ll be dropping “SAT words” like they’re hot and earning a swift kick in the ass from your friends. But at least you’ll be able to rock the Time’s crossword.
  5. Don’t become a literary douche – There are some limits to this whole endeavor, because at the end of the day no one likes a showoff. Never forget that the purpose of conversing about books is to exchange information. Pompously pontificating on Nabokov’s presaging David Foster Wallace’s post-post-modernist/pre-post-structuralist use of footnotes is the second best way to get someone to keep their pants on, right after…“Oh, by the way, I have STDs.”

After graduating college, I found my new Ikean bookshelves filled with nothing but books from various classes in Victorian Lit (all of which were marked with a big orange “Used” sticker) and several well-thumbed copies of US Weekly. Though my collection did manage to

4 Reasons to Move to Paris Right Now

By Tory Hoen
9/11/08
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It’s been two months since I left New York for a new life in Paris, but sometimes I am still struck by little cultural differences that remind my why I have chosen to live here. I’m not just talking about things like delicious cuisine and stylish people and universal healthcare and

Are You Registered to Vote?

By Sarah Collins
8/28/08
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You’ve been glued to CNN for months, to the point that you think it literally "equals politics." You’ve gobbled up punditry by the boatload. You are politically engaged and deeply passionate about the fate of the country

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