I'm looking to invest in some quality Headphones... as my tiny dog has chewed through my old travel pair, which was the last pair left. My budget is 100-200$. A lot of people have recommended Shure and Bose recently and was wondering if any audiophiles here can give me a hand. Please PM me with any advice or suggestions. I'm looking for over-the-ear headphones with noise cancellation, that my girlfriend shouldn't be bothered by if she's 5-10ft away studying. I haven't, ever, owned a pair of headphones that were of great quality, and that is what I am looking to accomplish this time around. I appreciate any input.
It's a dude wearing a [bowling?] hat but instead of eyes it's tits and instead of a mouth it's a vagina, it's fucking hilarious and awesome and it's a real classic painting... but I don't know what it's called or who it's by. I just remember seeing it in my community college art appreciation book. Anyone know it? Google searches are impossible.
Has anyone tried the Bounce Dryer Bar that could give me an objective opinion? How well does is work compared to the dryer sheets? Does it really work for 2 months like it claims? Does the thing actually continually stick to the side of the dryer or does the heat cause the adhesive to break down causing the dryer bar to bang around? I will gladly continue using the sheets but if the bar works (and actually sticks) without all the waste of the sheets, I'll go that route. Thanks for your opinion!
Can anyone point me to a good grocery budget for a single college student? I'm moving into my own place in 3 weeks in the town I go to school at, and for the first time in my life, my food won't be provided by mom or the campus dining hall. Ergo, I need to start figuring out how much it'll cost, how often I should shop, where I should shop for what, etc. I'm guessing $150 is reasonable, based on what I've seen on Google, but I don't know for sure. I'm not quite sure what's a reasonable amount of milk, bread, and other essentials to buy for any given timeframe. Ideally, I'd like to get a template set up that I can follow every time I go grocery shopping, whether it be weekly or bi-weekly. The only idea I have right now is to get a Sam's Club membership. I think buying stuff in bulk wherever feasible is a good start. Also, once I get back to working out, I'll be consuming more red meat. So I'll need to figure out what meats get the most bang for my buck.
I'm not so sure of the benefits of a warehouse membership for a household of one. They are great for staples like toilet paper, canned goods, cereal, 50 lb. sack of Basmati rice etc., but it comes down to what do you consume and how much storage space do you have? I buy a lot of my beef and chicken at Costco, but I also have 2 fridges and an upright freezer and a family of 4 to feed, so its easy and economical for me to buy in bulk. Plus, I put a 4-tier shelving unit in one of my garages for paper products, canned goods, large-container cleaning supplies. But you're not going to have that kind of space in an apartment. I've found (and I hate to say this because I think they're evil) that Wal-Mart's pricing is as close to warehouse pricing on a per unit basis as you'll find, and will probably be your best bet for your first shopping trip since you'll be buying a lot of items that are necessary, but that you don't buy every trip (condiments, peanut butter, and the like). I hardly ever buy meat or produce there, however. I'll go to the better grocery stores which all have a reduced-price section in the meat department, typically 40-50% off original price and usually find some good deals (e.g., this past weekend, I picked up lamb chops, 4 to a package, for a little over $2/each. Marinated them in Lawry's Steak & Chop marinade--also on sale 2/$4. For a little over $10 total, that's two dinners for a family of 4). Just use your head when pulling something out of this bin. If in doubt, pass. Produce I buy at the local farmer's market. The quality and freshness far outweigh the slight premium. Lastly, you can also opt to shop based on the supermarket flyers. Make your list first and see what store has the most items from your list on sale (or will return the bigger bang for your buck) and shop there that week. As for how much of what to buy, it depends on your consumption habits. How much bread to buy depends on how many sandwiches you plan on eating in a given week. I suggest planning out a menu for the week and making your shopping list based on that. With planning, you can knock out the cooking for two meals in one session (e.g., if your making salmon filet, cook two, put the other in a container and flake it over a salad for a lunch or light dinner later in the week when you need something quick). In the end though, you'll start to figure out how much of what to buy as you go.
The specific dollar amount thing is such a relative question (how much calories you are looking to consume, if you want to eat clean, where you are) I don't know if there's any way to really answer it but $150/week seems high for a broke college student, when I am really tightening my bootstraps I can get my monthly grocery expenses down to ~$400/month eating pretty healthy, not including going out to eat which is rare. Granted I go to some extreme measures to cut costs, but you should be able to get close to that if you try. Some general money saving tips I have are: - Create a menu before you go to the store that utilizes many of the same perishable ingredients, one of the biggest money wasters for single people cooking for themselves is buying something like a pepper, using it once and letting it go bad. - I agree with buying in bulk as long as you know you are going to eat it all, one of my roommates will go on a granola bar kick, buy a bunch, get bored of them and throw/give them away to make room for more stuff. - Eggs are a great, cheap source of calories and can fill you up pretty easy. you can throw leftovers in for an omelet, eat them hard boiled for a filling snack or throw a fried egg or two on just about any meal (especially pasta or rice dishes) for some flavor and extra calories. - Pay attention to fliers and in store discounts. You can sometimes get a double or triple discount for buying something on sale in bulk and/or with a coupon. This is especially useful for red meat and chicken. - If you can bear it plain, oatmeal is a frugal fare seeker's wet dream, cheap and healthy. Personally I have to add walnuts and fresh fruit to keep my sanity eating it daily. Edit: - Along the lines of what lust4life said, make sure you understand how much room you have in your fridge/freezer and pantry before you buy a lot of stuff. Food crammed to the back of the fridge generally tends to go bad and ends up spoiling, this is especially common in shared fridges. If you share a fridge find a way to make sure you know what belongs to who, I can't tell you how many times produce has spoiled in my fridge because the buyer thought it belonged to someone else and already bought a replacement. - If you have roommates on the same schedule as you that you can trust, split the grocery bills and cook together... note however that this is really tough for college guys.
Buy a vacuum packager, and buy the large cuts of top quality meat from Costco, like the tenderloin, rib roast, etc, and butcher it up and package it into smaller amounts. Not only will you have steak sized portions that are so much better than anything you'll find in a supermarket, but it'll be way, way cheaper too. I do this every couple of months, and it's saved me tons of cash, and is very convenient. And I just like butchering.
All I can say is do not go shopping while hungry (see:stoned). You'll end up with the list that Jim Breuer rants in Half Baked. And the next day you'll realize you really spent your weeks budget on marshmallows, beef jerky, and mountain dew.
Hey guys, I'll be in NYC for the next 7 weeks. I am looking for help on finding places to run while I'm there. I really, really, really hate running on treadmills, as they give you an artificial "speed", and your body cannot find it's own rythm/pace to run at that feels comfortable. That being said, I'll be staying at NYU's Rubin Hall, on 35 and 5th Ave. (Link is Google Map). So basically, my runs are 40-50mins each day. I'm trying to find a couple places outside that are convenient (hopefully not a 20min metro ride away) spots I can run at. Running though the city is fine with me, as long as I don't have to stop (this gets really fucking annoying on 50min runs). I'm right next to Washington Square Park, but that's really small--I was looking for something that wouldn't be really repetitive every 5 minutes, but I'm fine doing the same route every day as long as the rout itself isn't a track (which would be really repetitive). Mapmyrun a good bet here? Sorry about being picky, I just don't want to get bored! Thanks guys.
I'm one of the aforementioned broke-ass college students, and while it varies somewhat wildly based on when I choose to stock up on stuff, I'm averaging $112/month. Some things I've found useful: -Get a bunch of chicken from costco or similar place and freeze them. The night before you want to use them, put a frozen package in the fridge and let it thaw overnight. There's any number of things you can do with chicken, and it's fairly healthy. -Cans of tuna fish. Lasts almost forever, healthy, good for sandwiches and can be eaten raw in a pinch. -Rice and spaghetti. Cheap, easy to make, can pad almost any meal. -Drinks. Avoid sodas, they'll drain your budget and aren't good for you at all. I stick to tap water and milk. Throw in juices if you can afford them. -Potatoes. Another cost saver, you can get a pound for a dime. -Avoid high cost-low health items like potato chips, cupcakes, etc. -I buy a couple pounds of ground beef and make a bunch of meatballs and then freeze them. Good for tossing into spaghetti. I do the same with beef stew, although I don't freeze it, I just eat it twice a day for a few days. -Learn a few foreign recipes, particularly Asian recipes that can leverage cheap ingredients for a filling and tasty meal. I'm a particular fan of chicken curry with rice.
Check out Aldi if there's one near you. It's a super-cheap supermarket, with limited selection, but $50 spent there will go a long way towards basics. Costco and Sam's club cards are great if you can borrow them once a month to restock on things like toilet paper, detergent, etc. I've found that as far as food items go, buying them in bulk is rarely worth it for my house (2 of us) because even if it doesn't go bad, you just get sick of it. I've found that if you're not trying to eat healthy, it's just as cheap to eat out, if you shop the specials and coupons. Papa Johns can be had for $7, for example. Ramen, eggs and a handful of asian spices/condiments have made many a quick lunch. Cheap, good, different every time. Ditto to learning some basic Asian dishes.
One tip for vegetable shopping is to buy frozen bags. Fresh is obviously best, but can be cost prohibitive, and the shelf life is short. Canned vegetables are cheap but also taste that way, and are less nutritious due to added preservatives (high sodium). Enter Frozen veggies. I always buy green beans, peas, and corn in huge 32 oz bags and then just portion them in smaller freezer bags. They keep forever, are healthy, taste nearly fresh when prepared, and are a very quick side that is compatible for many meals. The price is right too. A 32 oz. bag of cut green beans cost $1.89 at Hannaford (a supermarket chain in New England and New York). That is actually cheaper than canned green beans, and the quality is way way better. I'll second what others have said about buying meats in bulk, portioning and freezing them. I spend $10 on a family pack of 6 chicken breasts and seal them in freezer bags. Throw together a chicken breast, a cup of green beans and a baked potato and you have a cheap, easy, and most importantly a healthy meal.
Does anybody know a good, somewhat lower range camcorder? I'm looking to get one for my dad for Father's Day, something below ~$500 bucks but still a good thing. I know absolutely nothing about the consumer market for cameras, which is ironic seeing as I know quite a bit about the professional stuff. I just need something that can shoot decent picture, and isn't one of those dumb "Flip" cameras. Something similar to this, but cheaper. He doesn't need any fancy bullshit, just as long as it records, zooms, etc.
I'm in a hurry, so I admit my forum search has been rather brief, but lacking a 'Good Books' thread (why don't we have this?!), I'm wondering if anyone's read Pandora's Seed and has a review they'd be willing to share? I saw the author on The Daily Show and it's piqued my curiosity, so if anyone has an opinion, please PM.
Was just coming to log on to delete the post after the light bulb went off over my head. SMRT! Thanks Shegirl!
I'm thinking about purchasing a new (to me) car. I would like to get either a Jeep Wrangler, preferably four door (not going to take it off road just trying to get a non-chick convertable so any suggestions along that range are welcome) or a Montero. I've had a Montero in the past so I know somewhat what I'm getting into with that. What I would really like are some thoughts on the various plus and minuses of the two cars (price range, gas mileage, any of those little things you can only learn once you've had the car a while). Also I'm planning to purchase this with some money from an insurance settlement from a dog bite a few years ago. I'm most like likely looking at (after an offer and counter offer) somewhere between 15 to 30K. Can anyone help me with the car knowledge as well as the usual settlement for these things (be happy to give details) also some financial advice from someone older (I'm 25, still in school no income really) as to how to allocate this new found "wealth." My parents took care of the medical expenses and luckily for me aren't expecting to be repaid so the lot is mine to spend. I also have around 14K of student loans.
Ill post this here too since I think this probably gets more traffic: I have an Ipod touch and frequently use the wi-fi to download my favorite podcast directly to my Ipod. A while back I was able to go directly to each individual podcast itunes listings by hitting the "get more..." option in the podcast playlist. It would jump to safari for a second and then load the podcast list in the itunes store. First, it stopped doing this and Safari would just load itunes internet webpage of the podcast list, which I have not been able to figure out how to download from on my touch. I resorted to use the itunes store at the ipods main menu to search for my podcast through the highest rated top tens. It was a pain in the ass but worked well. Today, the shit would kick off of the store as soon as I selected my podcast's name in the top ten lists. After much searching I have yet to find any sort of update or similar problem through google searches. Anyone else have similar problems?
New Orleans. Anybody that has played pool there. Are there any legitimate pool rooms in New Orleans? My brother moved there a couple weeks ago and seems to have done a pretty exhaustive search but can't seem to find any proper pool rooms. Anybody know of any?