Three Tips to Avoid Being Annoying Question Kid

Keep your questions up, or on, your sleeve. Image courtesy of Flickr user Oberazzi. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.It happens in every one of my classes: at least once a class period, a kid raises his hand and I shudder. I do that because I know that the kid is going to say something asinine, be unpleasant to the professor, or just generally eat up time with a 20-minute question. I call him Annoying Question Kid.

However, I have a theory that most Annoying Question Kids are not aware that they're being annoying question kids. I think they just see themselves as motivated students. So, for your reading elucidation, I present three tips on how to avoid being--even unintentionally--Annoying Question Kid.

Don't comment on things you didn't read: This one happens at least once a week in every one of my classes, and it drives me up the wall. If the professor asks a question about a textbook chapter or journal article that you didn't read, don't volunteer yourself to comment on it. The fact that the professor doesn't call you out on your clearly incorrect answer in class does not mean that you pulled it off--it means that they're filing it away for later. Additionally, this will make your classmates think you are either dumb or lazy.

Don't try to prove the professor wrong: I'm not saying that professors are always right, particularly when it comes to matters of interpretation. However, if you want to challenge a professor on a point, there's a right and a wrong way to do it. The right way is to say, "I understand where you're coming from, but it seems to me that Aristotle is saying..." followed by textual support for your point. The wrong way is, "Well, isn't Aristotle really saying that..." followed by something you just made up. Chances are that whatever point you're making, the professor has thought about it and has already decided against it for some reason. Don't try to phrase your questions as tricky gotcha questions for professors. They will beat you down, and you will look obnoxious.

Wait until you've got something interesting to say: Often, if you did the reading and are good at the subject, you can answer most of the questions that the professor asks. However, try not to raise your hand for every answer you know--it makes you look desperate for acknowledgement. Wait until you have something insightful to say and let your classmates speak when you don't. You don't want to talk the most out of the class. Instead, you want to have the highest interesting comment/time speaking ratio in your class.

Speaking up in class is an awesome way to form a relationship with a professor and stand out from the pack. But, by picking when you talk and maintaining a respectful tone when you do, you'll have a much greater and more positive impact than you would without forethought.

Eat Better, Stay Lazy: The 4 Best Pre-Made Foods

Say hello to my little friend. ‪Image courtesy of Flickr user Nelson Pavlosky. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.‬

I've spent most of this summer trying to do as little as humanly possible. This includes cooking. Because I'm too lazy to shop for groceries regularly, I've been relying on pre-prepared foods which won't go bad. Since I'm a vegetarian, this is problematic: all but one flavor of ramen (the alarmingly vague "Oriental" one) contain meat broth. In addition, the noodles are deep fried, and I have a strong desire not to keel over of a heart attack before graduation.

So, I've been exploring the more exotic aisles of the pre-made food section of the grocery store, and I've found that there is a life past ramen. Here are a few of my favorites so far. All of these food lines meet three criteria: they're vegetarian, reasonably cheap, and available at the Publix near my house.

House Foods Tofu Noodles: These are a delightful combination of healthy (they're 20 calories a serving) and bizarre. They are exactly what the name says--noodles made from tofu. The company sells a variety of different kinds of fake pasta, and they really do taste no different than any other weakly-flavored noodle. The texture isn't any different, and unlike normal noodles, they're already "cooked"--you just need to toss them in the microwave to heat them up. If you don't want to deal with boiling pasta, these noodles plus some pasta sauce is an easy meal.

Amy's frozen meals: I'm picking Amy's in particular because I've found them to be the highest-quality frozen foods I've eaten. I have no idea if the organic food in the frozen meals is any better for me than any other frozen food brand, but it is tastier. In part, this is because Amy's limits its microwave meals to things that don't totally suck when prepared in a box, unlike some other frozen food lines--the food is primarily Mexican or Indian. I particularly recommend the enchiladas.

Dr. McDougall's/Nile Spice Cup Meals: Two brands, one concept: a cup full of food which you prepare by dumping boiling water onto it and letting it sit. These are the slightly more diverse versions of cup noodles. However, unlike cup noodles (which taste vaguely carcinogenic), both of these brands offer a variety of foods. The Dr. McDougall's tortilla soup is good, as is the Nile Spice couscous. Each cup is low-calorie (200 calories per cup, generally), and the portions are generous. In addition, both companies package the cup meals in papery cups, rather than Styrofoam, so if you're worried about heated Styrofoam this takes care of it.

Cliff Bars: If you're a meal bar for breakfast kind of person, these are by far my favorite.  Cliff bars come in a variety of flavors that don't have that fake nutrition bar chocolate on them, and they're hefty. Plus, oddly enough, my local hippie grocery sells them for cheap-ish in bulk. Win!

Do you have other favorite pre-prepared foods? Let us know in the comments!

Use a Disposable Camera for Worry-Free Party Photos

Disposable cameras make everything look like the 90s. Image courtesy of the author, all rights reserved.

The things that make college parties worthy of documentation are frequently the things that make them hostile to electronics. Things get spilled, people are clumsy, and at the end of the night you may have a ruined gadget. However, that puts you in a bad place if you want to document the evening--party photos are great, but no one wants to run the risk of the ruined digital camera.

Enter the humble disposable camera. For around $10 (plus another $10 to develop the film) you can have a worry-free camera for a high-risk environment. If something gets spilled on the camera or someone drops it, you don't have to worry about a huge replacement cost. All you'll lose will be the night's photos, and even then you may still salvage something interesting, as these pictures from a disposable camera dropped in a pool show.

Because disposable cameras have cheap lenses, they tend to flatten images out. For party photos, this is actually a pretty cool effect. It's like adding nostalgia to your photo while it's being taken--it summons up photos from before the era of pervasive digital cameras. It's like a lo-tech Instagram.

The process of getting the photos developed is actually pretty painless. Most drug stores (CVS and Target, in my area) will still develop film cameras. Because they do it using digital magic, you can get a photo CD (or just a photo CD, if you don't want prints) along with your negatives. That way, you can take advantage of the wonders of the modern era post-party and post your photos to Flickr or Facebook. People seem to get a kick out of the look--my New Year's photos, which were taken this way, are some of the most popular on my Flickr page.

The last nice thing about having a camera that you don't have to worry about is that you can hand it off to other party goers without guilt. It's always fun to come back to the photos in the morning and see that your friends have snapped a few of you--something that's less likely if you're watching a nice digital camera in order to make sure that no one spills anything on it.

Though the input cost may make disposable camera impractical for day-to-day use, for big deal parties they're a great way to do something new with your photos. If you've taken your own disposable photos, give us a link the comments!

Stop a Sting from Hurting with Tobacco

(Video contains some cursing--NSFW.)

Summer is great in that it allows you to be outside. It's less so in that, while you're outside, so are stinging things--like the yellow jacket which came after my friend Cat in the video. However, as she shows you in the video, a moistened cigarette rubbed on a sting can help stop it from hurting and help swelling go down.

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Moving For Cheap: How to Score Cardboard Boxes

A collegiate treasure chest! Image courtesy of Flickr user Charley Lhasa. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.As Shep's article last week brought to our attention, moving season is upon us. However, as I discovered while packing last year, moving can be annoyingly expensive--particularly when it comes to finding enough cardboard boxes to pack up your things.

This Passionate Homemaking piece on moving, along with its Lifehacker writeup (the comments of which are worth a look), suggest searching for cardboard boxes on Craigslist or at liquor/grocery stores. However, if you live on a rural campus, Craigslist may be unhelpful and liquor stores unavailable. With that in mind, here are some more campus-specific resources for cardboard boxes.

Mail Services - My campus's mail services department has a huge pile of boxes by the trashcan from students receiving packages. The employees are glad to let you have them for free either to repurpose for shipping or--for larger care packages--to pack. These won't take care of your largest items, but they're useful for books or small collections of things. At my school, mail services is also helpful in providing tape and bubble wrap (and larger boxes) for a fee--not ideal, but useful in a pinch.

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The Pros and Cons of Moving Home After Graduation

While I may be on spring break, I'm aware that those of us on the semester system have a mere 4 weeks of class left before summer. For the graduating seniors, there are probably many outstanding questions to be answered. A big one is: "What am I doing after graduation?" Another one is, "Will I have to move home?" My post-grad plans are solidified by now, but we've received some advice by the way of Her Campus, the female-version of HackCollege (maybe?).

Some girls gravitate back towards home out of convenience. Others make the move in order to save money. Could moving back work for you? To help you figure it out, postgraduates and college seniors shared with [Her Campus] some pros and cons of moving home.

While I know that most of the readers of HackCollege are dudes, the advice put forth by this article reaches across the gender divide. Maybe we should organize some sort of soirée between the two sites. Ladies? In the meantime, take a read. 

Home Sweet Home: The Pros and Cons of Moving Home After Graduation [Her Campus]

Per-Ounce, the Cheapest Ways to Get Drunk

For many students, two priorities top even the most crucial final assignments:

• Getting drunk
• Getting drunk cheaply

While I don't encourage binge drinking (always) it can be revealing to look at the actual cost-per-ounce of the things you drink frequently. GetDrunkNotBroke.com breaks it down into those terms.

A few fun facts about things you might drink a lot:

• Of the "light beers," Natural Light generally does best, beating out even Keystone.
• Carlo Rossi and Franzia are by far the cheapest way to get a buzz.
• Straight Smirnoff is only more expensive than light beers by a matter of cents. The costof mixers will probably widen the gap, though.
• Two-Buck Chuck, both red and white, (though not calculated on the site) rank among the 10 cheapest forms of booze available.
• Liquors like Bacardi 151 and Everclear even beat out malt beverages.
• If you're in about the $6-for-a-six-pack range (semi-nice beers), Pyramid Hefeweizen does by far the best.
• It would cost $105 to get the equivalent of "6 drinks deep" by drinking O'Douls -- which is not that efficient -- but it would cost 6 times that to use Cristal champagne.

And, for your reference, the top 5 cheapies, in order:

1. Franzia "red" wine
2. Carlo Rossi Burgundy
3. Franzia chardonnay
4. Olde English 800 High Gravity
5. Mad Dog 20/20 Grape Wine

I almost threw up, just seeing those 5 items written in the same vicinity.

Get the full ranking here or visit their sister site which does the same for calories.

[Get Drunk Not Broke via 11 Points]

Image courtesy of antisocialtory

For many students, two priorities top even the most crucial final assignments:

• Getting drunk
• Getting drunk cheaply

While I don't encourage binge drinking (always) it can be revealing to look at the actual cost-per-ounce of the things you drink frequently. GetDrunkNotBroke.com breaks it down into those terms. A few fun facts about things you might drink a lot:

• Of the "light beers" Natural Light generally does best, beating out even Keystone.
• Carlo Rossi and Franzia are by far the cheapest way to get a buzz.
• Smirnoff is only more expensive than light beers by a matter of cents.
• Two-Buck Chuck (though not calculated on the site) ranks among the 10 cheapest drinks.
• Liquors like Bacardi 151 and Everclear even beat out malt beverages.
• If you're in about the $6-for-a-six-pack range (semi-nice beers) Pyramid Hefeweizen does by far the best.
• It would cost $105 to get the equivalent of "6 drinks deep" by drinking O'Douls. Which is not that efficient -- but it would cost 6 times that to use Cristal.

And, for your reference, the top 5 cheapies, in order:

1. Franzia "red" wine
2. Carlo Rossi Burgundy
3. Franzia chardonnay
4. Olde English 800 High Gravity
5. Mad Dog 20/20 Grape Wine

I almost threw up, just seeing those 5 items written in the same vicinity.

Get the full ranking here or visit their sister site which does the same for calories.

[Get Drunk Not Broke via 11 Points]

Guest Post: Dealing with a Car Accident in College

Ouch. Photo by flickr user Adria Richards and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0">CC BY-SA 2.0.

Today's guest post comes from Shep McAllister, a sophomore at Trinity University double majoring in communications and political science. He shares some advice about dealing with car accidents in school.

Having a car in college is awesome. You can escape campus whenever you want, members of the opposite sex flock to you for rides, and it helps establish a sense of independence and adulthood. It isn’t until you’re involved in your first car accident that you realize that being an adult can kinda suck, especially if you don’t know what you’re supposed to do.

I was recently rear-ended for the first time, and found myself clueless about what to do. I remembered that in the movies, the parties involved in the wreck exchange “information,” and then go on their merry way. Beyond this step I was pretty much lost, and while I was lucky enough to get my mom on the phone and a helpful officer on the scene, I realized that I needed to be better prepared if this were to ever happen again. So here’s a step-by-step guide I have put together, and am going to keep in my glove box from now on.

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