About HackCollege Page Updated

The About page has been updated in an attempt to remove some of the blinding pretension. It's gone from very pretentious to pretty pretentious.

Building Credit Right Away with Credit Cards

You can never grow up fast enough.

Because I'm a loyal American, I spend money and lots of it. My current weapon of capitalist choice is my Bank of America Visa Check Card. The check card just withdraws the amount of the purchase directly from my checking account. Cool enough.

But a friend started using his fancy Visa Starbucks Duetto card in front of me. I've been generally jaded towards credit cards, until now. I forget the exact benefits, but he makes back a good portion of his Starbucks purchases and is constantly accumulating credit to be cashed in at a Starbucks. All of this is highly appealing to a caffeine addict.

Benefits aside, the main reason to get a credit card (if you don't already have one) is to start building good credit. Admittedly, the Starbucks incentive will push me into the realm of credit card holders, but be warned: credit cards make it easy to spend money you don't have. Sure I could put a new MacBook Pro on my future credit card, but I definitely don't have the cash for that. The basic lesson of using a credit card is to pay off purchases as soon as possible, thus accumulating good credit.

Since this whole topic has disturbed my sleeping patterns, I've been doing some research to different types of cards and such. Here's a list of sites I've looked at so far:

• "Credit Card" on Wikipedia


• Top 10 Card OFfers for Nerds, Bloggers, and Digg Users


• Starbucks Card Duetto Visa


• CreditCard321: Top 50 Credit Cards


• PayPal Plus Credit Card


• Credit Card Rewards at Lifehacker


• Read the Fine Print When Choosing a Rewards Credit Card

So go be a patriot and spend some money.

What We're Reading: March 5, 2007

Spring break is in full swing for me at LMU, and I've decided to forgo any traveling to neighboring countries with lower drinking ages. Sticking around campus isn't the most elegant thing to do, but it sure is relaxing. Anyway, here's what I've been reading.

• The 50 Most Important People on the Web


• OS X Leopard Gallery 9A377a


• 30 Days with Linux


• How to Get Your Girlfriend to Play Video Games


• Top 10 Most Beautiful Blog Designs


• 5 Common Mistakes That Make You Look Dumb


• Guy Kawasaki's Questions on the iPhone

What We're Reading: March 1, 2007

To celebrate the new month of March and a certain boredom, we bring you what we're reading today:

• The Consumerist's Really Big Guide to Secret Menu Items


• 13 Things to do Immediately After Installing Ubuntu


• Soundstream: Sound-Responsive Screen Save


• How-to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing


• How to Move Your iTunes Library onto an External Hard Drive

Happy Reading.

On Yelling "Spring Break" Out of Moving Cars

Unbeknownst to many, a new trend is sweeping the nation. It is not blunts nor television, but parents will still find it disturbing. It is the practice known to some only as "spring break."

While we are well aware that the actual spring breaks of schools are approaching, this yelling has nothing to do with it. The idea is such:

• One is in a moving car


• One identifies passers-by meandering at a certain distance


• One rolls down one's window


• One yells "Spring Break!" perhaps adding one's favorite year at the end.


• Passers-by within earshot instinctively cheer uncontrollably

Be warnst, though. During your school's actual spring break, it is of the utmost faux pas to yell "spring break." Rather, one must yell something else such as "Final Weeks" or "Labour Day Weekend."

What does one yell outside of one's car window?

LMU Student Victimized by Santa Clara Police Department

It's amazing how you still manage to procrastinate when you're pulling your hair out over homework that continues to pile up.

Anyway, I was reading in the illustrious Loyolan today and came across one of the better articles I have read in awhile. It's filed under "opinion," even though the article is more a recounting of events.

It's not on the scale of the UCLA Tasing that happened last October, but it's still disgusting. And it's a good read.

You, too, are looking to procrastinate: Snitched on in Santa Clara

Today in History: February 22nd

February 22nd, 1732: George Washington is born. While I was celebrating this morning, I found the following video on YouTube. Oh, the nerve of some people. Haha.

What We're Reading: Feb. 21, 2007

Hello everybody. Sorry I've been away for about a week; parents were in town and I needed to show them around Los Angeles. This is a quick post of a few articles I've read today that some may find interesting:

• 15 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Your Career


• Top 10 Gmail tips and hacks - Download Squad


• Verizon Lies To Customer To Get Him Off The Phone, Charges ETF


• 5 Blogging Methods That Work