Tag Archives: dorm
Textbooks, Computers, and a Tea Pot: Essential Gear of the Successful College Student
You’re going to college soon – you need to start making a checklist. Aside from the usual costs like tuition and food, you’re going to need a few other supplies. Before you say goodbye to mom and dad for the semester, here’s what to stock up on.
A Good Laptop
A good laptop is absolutely essential for today’s college student. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing you can take with you. Don’t leave home without something at least as good as a mid-tier product either. No Acers. Can’t use ‘em. OK, you could use them, but don’t. Get yourself a Macbook Air, at least. Or, get yourself the top-tier Dell model. Lenovo are also a good choice as long as you’re going for the top-tier – again. Yes, they’re a bit pricey, but you’ll thank yourself three years from now when your laptop isn’t falling apart and the software still runs smoothly.
P2P File Sharing Software
It seems like every college kid these days is doing some kind of P2P file sharing. And, while you should not be breaking the law by downloading and sharing copyright-protected content without the authorization of the copyright holders, there is a legit use for file sharing software that’s wickedly underutilized: sharing original creations you make in college and sharing your study papers with classmates.
Simple P2P software, like the bittorrent client from www.Vuze.com, is really all you need to connect directly with other classmates to share pretty much anything you’ve done in class – from study notes to past homework assignments as study aides.
Free Word Processing Tools
Who wants to pay for Microsoft Word when OpenOffice suite is free? Better yet, LibreOffice. It’s got all of the tools you could ever want from the paid programs at a price you can’t argue with – even with the student discount offered from the competitor.
Used Books
No one likes paying retail for books. So, before you go off to college, verify your class schedule and then pick up some used textbooks from someplace like AbeBooks, Amazon.com’s used textbook section, or Half.com.
A Teapot
A teapot. Yes, a teapot. You need to eat, right? Between 4 hour study sessions, a teapot can heat up the boiling water you need for Ramen – every college student’s staple food.
Food Rations
You can’t live on college food and Ramen Noodle alone. They may be high in calories, but they’re really low in nutrition. It’s weird, but while students are getting your learn on, they’re also wrecking their health.
Your number one priority in college is to get a good education. To do that, you need to be healthy. You must get in all of your required fruits and vegetables, lots of good quality meat, and of course, fiber. Food rations can help you do that – nuts and seeds, dried beef jerky (not the kind with preservatives and artificial flavors. It’s actually really easy to make at home with a cheap food dehydrator and some beef and salt), and dried fruit like apricots, plums, and raisins.
Audrey Brown is a college dorm guru. As a resident director for many years, she loves blogging about the ins and outs of creating a great college dorm experience from decor and organization tricks to gadgets and study habits.
Save Space in your Dorm By Using Actuators!
Raising Furniture above the Room
Creating of space in the dormitory has been a challenge for most students often used to their big rooms back at home. The available space to be utilized by each student is always limited. Actuators are developed to solve these problems. They eliminate the manual movement of desks and chairs in the room, bedding, lockers, shelves and the kitchenette within the room. Space is also very essential to the dormitory as the activity of a full house take place within a single room comprising of more than one individual. Therefore, there is a need to move the furniture or raise them above the room to create more space for different activities. Automated actuators make the movement effortless and unproblematic.
Convertible Furniture
Actuators have ensured a space saving furniture that is invented to satisfy the needs of students in the dormitories. The design of convertible hidden wall beds made possible by linear actuators that ensure a space saving hideaway that tuck into the wall. The tucking leaves behind simple shelves or desks that allow the students to enjoy their study comfortably. Actuators can be attached to the desks allowing their movement from one place in the dorm to the other, the beds than can be folded back into position when it’s time to rest. Other beds can easily be converted to a desk and used for studies.
Raised dormitory bed to create space for learning
The kitchenette
According to progressive automations linear actuators service, the kitchenette can be automated by actuators to be raised and lowered according to the will. The automated kitchen cabinet can be raised above the room to create room for other functions such as washing dishes. The cabinets where foods and utensils are stored and the tables used for cooking within the dormitories can be stored safely in the command of a remote control. The kitchen cabinet, therefore, provides the advantage for people with different heights or the disabled to be able to cook and still retract the kitchen for other functions easily.
Kitchen cabinet that can be raised above the ground using attached actuator
