Writing sample for another blog

I applied to write for a real blog and get paid too! I would be writing about colleges geared toward Newark-area readers. To apply I had to submit a sample of what I'd write about so I decided to include it here as well. The article is called "Packing for college but bringing too much baggage." Enjoy...

Laptop? Check. Extra-long twin size bedding? Check. iPod charger? Check. Favorite sweatshirt? Check. Dramatic issues from childhood/junior high/high school and other emotional baggage? Definite check.

Students are arriving at colleges today with more emotional baggage and on more mood enhancing (legal) medications than ever before. This is stemming from their over-scheduled childhoods that contained everything from ballet and tennis lessons to SAT prep-courses after baseball practice (and homework and play dates too!) I also blame the rising divorce rate and crumbling family structure. When did parents stop teaching coping skills? Probably soon after they turned to anti-depressants themselves.

I'll stop my cynicism because I believe you can't change the past, but you can change the way you respond to it.

College is a fresh start, a whole new world with a blank slate. Favorite childhood comforts are left behind so why can’t negative history be too? It's easy to hit the reset button on our Wiis and ctrl+alt+delete when our computers freeze, so why can't today's college students do the same with their lives when they come to campus?

Maybe it's because college is a time of soul-searching. I'm not saying don't acknowledge the past and never deal with it. I am saying don't let that knock-off Louis Vuitton duffel be filled with tears and negative experiences when you travel up the the Turnpike to your new home.

Colleges have everything you need to deal with life. Counselors are easy to talk to and offer the support anyone needs. I encourage students to utilize their services since, for the most part, these services are offered at no or minimal cost. But don't pile up that baggage in front of your door and keep you locked away from the exciting events happening on campus.

College is a chance to define yourself all over again, instead of letting yourself be defined by your past. Seek the help you need, but allow yourself to enjoy the ride. You've got four years (unless you want even more student loans to pay back) - don't let anything get in the way of making the experience great and soaking up every morsel of college life!

Thinking about blogging

I really enjoy blogging whether it's for work or personal use. I've enjoyed the casual format of it as a place to store and share thoughts.

I'm trying to think about how I can blog and get paid for it and was thinking about writing a Student Housing Technology blog. So much of my work is based on technology and it's really become the trendy talk at conferences (well, that and millennials and sustainability - which really is what the techno realm is all about.)

I wonder if anyone would read that in my field?

It's been suggested to me to also write a relationship advice column kinda like SATC. I just think there's too many of them out there right now.

Getting it done

I'm sorry I've been nonexistent on here lately. I've been so consumed with work and technology at work that I have no desire to do anything more than look at Facebook when I get home.  Turns out though, it's all been worth the hard work.

When I was hired, it was shared to me that the goal of the VP was to have a completely online room selection process.  Since I have experience with the particular software that was just purchased at that time, they selected me for the position.  While my experience with the software was only as an end user, I still was more familiar with its capabilities than anyone there.

My first year there, I worked to build an online housing application, which turned out successful and made for much less paperwork.  We hit a few bumps because I didn't know what questions to ask  (who knew you could turn up the speed of the internet to allow for more people to access the same thing at the same time?) but I learned as I went, and that allowed me to be better prepared to build the room selection process.

This year my attention was focused on improving the application from a better marketing standpoint and building the actual room selection processes.  Well, a week ago was our first live in-production test of online room selection with our two living learning communities and it was very successful! The software allows picking a room to be as easy as buying concert tickets online.  If a student knows what room they want and it is still available, the process takes less than 2 minutes.  This is far better than spending an hour in a line in the U center waiting for staff to fill in pencil rosters.

The day was a success, with only one glitch that myself and the vp of the software company couldn't have anticipated.  The glitch was more of a problem with the student's personal computer than a problem with the software.  We figured out a backdoor way around the issue, and that student successfully chose a room.

Earlier that week, I set up a Housing blog as a more casual venue for students to learn more about what's going on in our department.  I've really enjoyed writing in that and sharing some behind the scenes goings-ons in my department with the students.

We've got one more week of room selection coming up and I hope it goes as well as last Friday's.  It was just such a memorable moment in my career when the VP called me to personally congratulate me on my "technological achievements of this past week."  It's nice when you can really live up to people's potential.

Some of my favorite (easy) recipes

As a thank you to my loyal reader(s), I'm posting some of my favorite, easy-to-make recipes.  Enjoy!

Apple Dump Cake

First, a special "thank you" to my friend from DC, Danielle Andrews for this one. It's kinda like an easy apple cobbler, except not crunchy. 

1 aluminum foil lasagna pan (the throw away kind because who wants to do dishes?)

2 or 3 cans of apple pie filling

2 sticks of butter

1 box of white cake mix

Preheat oven to 350

Melt the butter in the microwave so it's completely liquid.

Use spray to grease the pan

Dump the cans of apple pie filling into the pan - making sure it's spread out pretty evenly

Liberally sprinkle the white cake mix powder over the apples.  You won't use the whole bag, but the more you sprinkle the more topping you'll have.

Pour the butter evenly over the cake mix so that it's all moist but not floating.

Place in the oven and cook until the top is golden brown.

Scoop into a bowl (maybe throw some vanilla ice cream on top) and enjoy!

Jello Cake (aka "Traditional Polish Christmas Tree Cake")

Dolly's traditional Christmas hit.  It's not Polish at all - except the fact that it's simple.

Cake pan

White cake mix (and the ingredients that it calls for)

1 box of jello of any flavor/color you like

water

1 fork

Cool whip or white frosting of your choice

Food coloring the same color as the jello

Make and bake the white cake.

Transfer baked cake to serving dish

As it cools, boil the water for the jello and dissolve the jellow mix in it. (Do not use cold water.)

Use the fork to poke holes in the cake wherever you want and however many you want.

Pour the warm jello liquid into the holes, making sure to saturate the area.

Color the frosting the same color as the jello and decorate the cake as you wish.

We usually make this with cherry jello but I've also tried peach and blue raspberry. The peach was delicious but the blue raspberry was gross.

Queso con Carne

A special thank you to my friend Jamie Grezgoreck for this delicious dip recipe that kept me satisfied in Connecticut.

1 large brick of Velveeta

1 lb of ground beef

1 jar of salsa (whatever level of hotness you'd like)

Melt the Velveeta in the microwave in a large bowl

Brown the ground beef and drain the grease

Dump the browned ground beef into the melted Velveeta and add the jar of salsa.

Mix well.

Best served with Tostidos Scoops.

Shrimp Dip

I think I got this recipe from Don's wife, Laura. A thank you to her for it.

2 cans of Chicken of the Sea tiny shrimp (found near Tuna)

1 8oz brick of Cream Cheese

1/2 jar of Cocktail sauce

Soften the cream cheese.  

Pour in the cocktail sauce (flavor to your liking)

Dump in the shrimp

Mix.

Best served with Bagel chips.  

Note: I've also seen the cocktail sauce and shrimp just dumped over the bar of cream cheese but I prefer it all mixed together.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

We had this dip at Mer's BBQ last summer and it was a spicy treat!

1 8oz bar of cream cheese

1/2 cup of hot sauce (or as much as you'd like)

1/2 cup of blue cheese salad dressing

1/2 cup of crumble blue cheese

Soften the cream cheese

Mix in the other ingredients

Bake for 20 minutes on 325.

Got time to kill?

I've got AOL.com to thank for getting me ridiculously addicted to this game. In between Facebook checkings and helping students, this is how I've been passing my time. It's called Boomshine and you have to break a certain number of bubbles in one attempt. Not only is it challenging but it's pretty too!

Back to the Heart

I haven't said this out loud just yet but one of my New Year's Resolutions was to remember where I came from.  No, not Jersey.  Sacred Heart University.  While I was born and raised in Jersey and have returned to my home state, I did the most growing up at SHU.  That place and the people I met there taught me so much about life, responsibility, citizenship, and just how to be a pretty decent person.  I'll never forget the lessons I've learned there, but sometimes I get lazy and take the easy route around things.  I owe Sacred Heart so much more than that (no, not student loans.)  I owe them demonstration of what they taught me...and I need to show that its mission and lessons are present in all that I do.  I know that it might sound a little cultish when I say that, but really, Sacred Heart means that much to me - it saved my life and made it all at once.

So, since I've made this agreement with myself, I can already see the changes happening.  My concentration levels have gone up and my productivity and clarity at work has increased dramatically.  

I've always said if I had a lot of money, I'd give a lot of it to SHU (probably just to their Res Life program, as that's where I learned the most). I don't have a lot of money (yet) so I need to give back in other ways.  Living by SHU's mission is one way, but getting involved is another.  So, this week I am participating in a phone meeting with the Alumni Executive Council and have also agreed to host an extern - a SHU student who will come and career shadow me for a day or so.  

I can't wait for the meeting to see what it's all about! The one thing I'm sure of is that it'll feature a group of SHU Alums who take pride in their Alma Mater and who remain knowledgeable of self, rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, responsive to social and civic obligations, and able to respond to an ever-changing world.

Happy SHU Year

It's amazing and absolutely true what they say: "The friends you make in college will be your friends for life."

For New Year's, Josh invited me, Bidds, and Kelly up to the Berkshires to surprise Dana for her birthday...and surprise we did.  After traveling all day from different directions in a snowstorm, we surprised the pants off of Dana in her own home.  

I'm not sure how many of you have actually been to the Berkshires in Massachusetts.  It's beautiful there with its mountains everywhere you look and small town America charm.  It's a simpler life there, no traffic and still mom and pop stores.  

Josh took the liberty of getting us a table at the local hot spot, The Bounti Fare, for their New Years Eve dinner and dancing party.  Clad in our 2009 glasses (purchased earlier that day in NY Penn Station) we strutted our city girl stuff into the wood paneled back room to enjoy the bountiful fare and Phil n the Blanks - THE cover band of the Berkshires.  Even though Phil and his blanks played mostly toward the 40-50-something crowd, my friends and I danced all night and shared some good laughs (mostly at the cost of others in the room - sorry Mullet lady.)

The 24ish hours we were there flew by way too quickly and we enjoyed every minute we were there.  It's amazing how four girls met randomly 11 years ago and still have the same amount of laughs we had back in West Hall 613 way back when.