Author Archives: jeremyassistant
Advice for College Freshmen
You’ve just completed four stellar years of rigorous study and have been accepted to an amazing college or university. Congratulations to you. Graduating from high school is exciting and the prospect of living on campus in the fall is no doubt filled will anticipation coupled with a bit of anxiety. Follow these recommendations from college admissions counselors to ensure your freshman year is a huge success on many levels.
Study after study shows that the academic performance during the freshman year is an indicator of the outlet for the ensuing three years. While there are many adjustments and changes involved in heading off to college and being on your own for the first time, commit to making your academic performance your number one priority. That is after all, why you’re there. The freshman year is also a time of exploration and an opportunity to get to know yourself better as well as reach out to fellow collegians with similar interests. The freshman is appropriately named as it is certainly a fresh start for many carry baggage from their high school social experience.
Start packing and making lists by mid-summer for your August departure. Take advantage of the awesome savings offered by Groupon coupons and stock up on campus active wear from Hudson’s Bay. Check with the university housing website on which items are permitted in the dorm rooms. Connect with your roommate to make sure you’re not bringing duplicates. Space is at a premium.
Upon arrival, reach out to each of your professors during their office hours the first week of class. Introduce yourself and establish an initial relationship. This will prove invaluable if you run into difficulties in the class and are in need of additional help. You’ll have more of a comfort level reaching out.
Finally, stay connected with your support systems. Your parents, mentors and friends all are anxious and excited to hear about your adventures, concerns and new experiences. Lastly, know that you are a reflection of the students with which you elect to befriend. The freshman year is a great time to spread your wings and remember your roots. Best of luck to you!
Marijuana as an enhancer for athletes
In recent years, there has been a tremendous change in the way people view marijuana. Now a lot of science endeavors prove that there are various medicinal and healthy uses for marijuana, which was once considered a dangerous drug.
Recently, endurance athletes are now proving that the long-believed stereotype of lazy marijuana couch potatoes feasting on junk food is totally absurd.
The combination of athletics and marijuana is now a hidden trend in today’s running culture. Athletes use it as a means to boost their run as it makes the longevity of their high last for longer periods.
From time immemorial, people believed that the ‘runner’s high’ was due to the release of endorphins but this is not totally true.
Although the brain releases its own kinds of opioid chemicals during exercises, it also releases some endogenous cannabinoids and our body has embedded an endocannabinoid system of receptors.
Is marijuana truly a booster to the performance of athletes? There is still not a clear answer to that question. But many athletes believe it is.
It is not only runners who can benefit from the use of marijuana. Jiu-Jitsu practitioners and other martial arts athletes along with bodybuilders and those who train by lifting weights have found that marijuana is beneficial for them. They usually prefer sativa dominant strains like Silver haze that boosts their focus and energy before they begin their training. Working out while being high is one of the most underappreciated and least talked about pleasures one can gain from training.
There are some kinds of cannabis that reduces chronic pain, depression and other holdups to exercise thus leading people to a fitter and healthier lifestyle. Now there is greater evidence to prove that some kinds of marijuana can act as analgesic, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective agents which will help athletes recover faster.
It doesn’t matter whether you take cannabis through smoking, edibles or vapes. The cannabinoids are chemical compounds that regulate memory, pain, appetite and emotions when combined with the receptors in the body and the brain. The compound that brings about a calm, peaceful feeling is cannabidiol (CBD) which is non-psychoactive.
Also, it has been proved that marijuana can increase tissue oxygenation, increase concentration and reduce muscle spasms during, before and after an athletic event.
Currently, the World Anti-Doping Association has a ban on competing while being high. The WADA cites some studies that show that marijuana can reduce anxiety and act as a bronchodilator by increasing airflow to the lungs which will make athletes breath better. This could mean that the WADA is considering marijuana as doping. This is quite exciting to ponder as they think that marijuana improves the performance of athletes.
People are now starting to see that cannabis can become part of the lifestyle of athletes.
There is not much research available to show how marijuana affects performance so it is very difficult for researchers in the field to study its effects.
Studying Exotic Plants? Here’s Some Strange Plants You Can Expect to See
If you have chosen to study exotic plants then you are in a for a magical trip through the exciting and strange world of botany. Everything that we synthesize as a human race comes from what we have learned from plants and they have provided us with medication, food and everything in between ever since we have been on this planet. Each year, scientists discover even more weird and wonderful plants and grow in their understanding of how we can harness the capabilities of various plants around the World. Here are some of the strange and fascinating plants which you can expect to find during your studies.
Bleeding Tooth Fungus
Aside from its awesome name, the Bleeding Tooth Fungus or Hydnellum Peckii, to give it its scientific name is a strange and colorful fungus that can be found across North America and Europe. The fungus is pink in color and has several small holes from where gloopy, red sap pours out, the fungus is actually edible but the sap has an extremely bitter taste.
Corpse Flower
The Corpse Flower or Titan Arum can be found in Sumatra and it only blooms once every 40 years. The plant gets its name from the stench that emits when blooming as well as its wrinkled, dark red flowers. These flowers are the largest branched main stem flowers in the World and they are actually protected by law such is their rarity.
Venus Flytrap
Despite its popularity in homes around the World, the Venus Flytrap or Dionaea Muscipula is still a fascinating, carnivores plant which closes its leaves when an insect enters. These plants are found throughout Eastern Carolia and continues to fascinate scientists and private collectors to this day.
Hemp
The hemp plant is truly fascinating, hemp is the name which is often used when referring to the Cannabis genus, the word Cannabis is more often used for the strain which is cultivated for drug use. Whilst the hemp plant does produce Cannabis seeds which are used for the growing of recreational plants, these are generally the feminine version of ‘hemp’ and it is the feminized seeds which are more often sought after for this practice. Hemp itself, the male version of the plant, has been used for millennia in the production of paper, textiles, fabrics, food and even in medicine.
Pitcher Plant
The pitcher plant is a dangerous plant for animals, this carnivorous plant has been known to eat animals as big as mice and regularly lures animal in with its pitfall traps, tiny sacs which hang down from the plant emitting an alluring scent. Animals are attracted to both the scent and the color and once they get too close, the plant closes in on them and digests them. There are over 150 varieties of the pitcher plant and most are found in tropical conditions.
A Course in How to Succeed at Trade Shows
Trade shows can prepare any student for life because they are all about competition. The goal at a trade show is to outdo the other similar companies and get all of the potential clients to hire your company for the products and services you supply. Here are the things you need to learn about success in this endeavor.
When you exhibiting at a trade show, it is important to use every weapon available to get potential clients to notice you, and at the center of your efforts will be your exhibition stand. It needs to be memorable, attractive and flat out rocking so that anyone who sees it, hears it or hears about it, wants to come by and meet you. Here are some tips to create a stand that does this for you.
When designing your booth make sure you have two things firmly in mind:
- What image of your company you want to portray: Do you sell products that are used in serious situations? Your stand needs to reflect this by exhibiting a strong and stable appearance. Do you sell fun products? Then this gives you an indication of how you will want to design and operate your exhibition stand. Your stand needs to be an extension of your company, its core values and market positioning.
- What is the theme of the trade show and who is going to attend: Is the trade show about new innovations or products in your industry? You might want to pick a theme for your stand that is forward thinking and even innovative. Are the attendees usually the top brass from their companies? You will want to make sure that your stand has a seating area where you can cut deals and have quiet when needed.
Getting these two elements right allows you to stay on track and to weigh any creative ideas against.
Your exhibition stand can take on almost any design from traditional, to sleek, to high tech but a few things need to be adhered to no matter the theme:
- Consider hiring an exhibition stand: You do not have to spend tons of time and money on the construction an exhibition stand for it to be great. You can hire exhibition stands, that come complete with whatever graphics and other features you would like. This allows you to focus on the little details rather than design and construction, saving you lots of time and headaches.
- Pay attention to the little things: When you get your stand it will look great, and be sure that you keep it neat and clean. You may have a lot of traffic during the trade show, but that is no excuse for loose material or wires all over the place and scuffed up edges. These things detract from your company’s image and from your overall presentation. So take the extra time to spot paint and re-attach any loose material firmly to the stand. Similarly, if your company is serving product samples or snacks, make sure that you put someone in charge of refilling them. Attendees feel cheated if they are inviting to your stand with the offer of a freebie and it is not there. No one will ask you for it, they will just write you off.
- Everyone at your stand needs to be trained: This does not mean that everyone needs to be a salesperson (although this is the smartest approach), it means that everyone needs the basics of customer relations and how to direct anyone with a question to the right person. Attendees will not know who is who at your stand, so most will approach the wrong person with an important question. Everyone on your team needs to know who to redirect these people to, and quickly.
- Never argue with your team members on the exhibition floor: There will be a lot of stress at times with more impatient potential customers than team members to accommodate them. The chance of someone getting frustrated and wanting to lash out at someone who may be slacking off a bit, will be tempting. But this needs to be avoided, because it will make your organization look unprofessional. Calmly take a team member who is not performing outside the exhibition hall or to some back area and then have a conversation about performance. Perhaps the person is exhausted and needs to go home for the day. Better to lose one person on a busy day than to have that person ruin great sales opportunities for the company.
So there you have it, the lessons necessary to become successful at a trade show. Use these tips if you enter the industry and will go a long way to making you a success.
Cleansing Your Digital Footprint
We hear this all of the time: be careful what you post online. While some of us scoff at this recommendation, we need to heed this advice. While we may think that posting photos of our friend’s party from last weekend are funny at the time and display the college lifestyle, those photos could come back to haunt us years down the road.
Things that live on the Internet rarely ever die, after all. They can always be accessed in archives. Smartphones are changing the way we do things, and they certainly are changing the college experience. It wasn’t too long ago that I was on the other side of the desk, detailing my education and job experiences during interviews. Now, I own my own business and have to make hiring decisions, and I had to also do this during my previous jobs in the nonprofit sector. Trust me when I say this: potential employers do look at your social media accounts, websites and more. If you’re in a highly visible profession or want to be, such as public relations or other communication-based professions, your employers will look for your digital footprint even more.
Here are some ways to cleanse your digital footprint, according to The Balance:
-
Take off your full name, birthday and other personal information from your social media sites. And it’s never safe to post your mailing address. If you use your cell phone for business-related activities, still be mindful of posting it everywhere. Don’t put up too many personal photos, like of your pets, children and family and friends. Hackers could use those things against you. Don’t give them the bait.
-
Never post about when you’re on vacation. Sure, your friend may be feeding your dog, checking your mailbox and making sure your house is OK while you’re out of town, but it just begs people to invade your privacy — and your home.
-
You never know what the future holds. Avoid ranting on social media. It puts you in a bad light and typecasts you as the resident digital complainer, but it could also cause you a job in the future. If you complain about your cable television company on social media but apply for a job there two years down the road, your social media rant could honestly cost you the job.
-
Don’t show your full hand. You’ll want to keep a social media poker face. Don’t lament about your overbearing parents or talk about deep-rooted emotions. Don’t post your dirty laundry — or anyone else’s. If you need to talk with someone, consider chatting online with a mental health professional or reading through advice columns on Betterhelp.com. Keeping your personal feelings away from social media can help you avoid backlash and unnecessary drama. Plus, you will be working on improving yourself and your digital image.
-
Put things you want people to see. Create a LinkedIn profile, blog, Google account and more that highlight your job history, skill sets and other communications about you and your career and personal brand. Be authentic in your communications but be strategic. Limit your car and gym selfies, which can damage your credibility. Did you just get a new Nintendo Switch or piece of workout equipment? Don’t brag about what you have or invite people in your home to steal what you have worked hard to get for yourself.
In today’s digital age, all of us have our own personal brands online. Stay true to yourself but always be mindful of what you post.
