Dorm Hacks

Hi all,

I recently got hired as a blogger for the Daily Californian at UC Berkeley so I'll be spending most of my time writing for them these days. Ill be posting links to my articles here. I'll still put in some personal posts here and but for the post part you'll find me at http://clog.dailycal.org/. 

One thing I’m really nervous about is my laptop getting stolen. You can step out of your dorm for just a couple minutes and come back to discover some crook stole your laptop and/or other valuables. I’m currently using my new 13 inch second gen Samsung Series 9 and it wasn’t exactly cheap. I love this laptop already but unfortunately it doesn’t have a security slot for a laptop lock so I can’t simply tether my laptop to the desk in my dorm. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to protect my valuables. I was looking at getting a little safe but I realized that screams valuables and a small safe could easily just be carried out of the room. 

The best thing I’ve come across so far is getting a lockable footlocker which is basically a trunk like the ones in Harry Potter. They’re too big to steal and are really hard to break into. It may sound crazy but it actually like seems like a viable option. Plus they seem useful just for moving in because they can hold so much. And during the year it could be used as an extra dresser, table or nightstand as well as your safe. 

Having an edu email address opens you up to a world of discounts and promotions. One of the best is getting a free upgrade to an Amazon Prime account for six months. The real gem about Amazon Prime that makes it stand out is the unlimited free two day shipping. If you need something for your dorm or yourself, anything from a printer cable to your favorite pens, you can order it on Monday and have it by Wednesday. It's effortless and amazingly convenient; you feel like you're in the future. It's a truly seamless experience. In addition Amazon will offer you other discounts and promotions for having an Amazon Student account. 

Unfortunately the promotion only includes two day shipping-not access to Amazon's streaming video library. However while you're a student you can get a full Amazon Prime Account for only $39/year instead of the usual $79/year. One thing you should know is that Amazon will automatically charge you $39 at the end of the six months unless you go to the managing your student subscription page and tell them not too. 

Overall Amazon Prime is outstanding and its got me hooked on the instant gratification of two day shipping. I easily can recommend signing up.

In the libraries at UC Berkeley there are signs posted that say, "In the time it took you to read this sign, someone stole your laptop." So many things can happen to your laptop. It can be lost or stolen. Your hard drive can die or you can accidently spill coffee all over the keyboard. On top of all the stress of a lost/broken laptop you might have paper due that's trapped in it. That's where dropbox comes in. Dropbox is a cloud based locker where you can store all your important documents. That way if something happens to your laptop, at least your essays and labs are safe. All you have to do is sign into Dropbox from any computer and download your files.

What sets Dropbox apart from a lot of other cloud locker services is the fact that its so seamless. Dropbox is just a folder in your computer that you can save to. It automatically syncs so you don't have to take time upload it or think about it. Dropbox also has apps for iPhone and Android so you can access your files on the go. 

Dropbox is also really great for storing photos and other media. Unfortunately that takes up a lot of space and Dropbox only gives you 2 GB for free. You can pay monthly (Starting at $9.99/month for 100GB) for more space but were college students so we don't have money for stuff like that. I currently have 21.38 GB of space in my Dropbox. I did this through doing all the ways Dropbox offers free space. The main two ways are uploading 3 GB of photos from a mobile deivce (I'm only at 2.5GB) and through referrals.

After creating your Dropbox account click the get free space button at the top of the screen. You'll see an option to invite friends, click on the button and on the next page should be a referral link. You get an extra 500MB of space for life(up to 32 referrals) anytime someone uses the link to sign up for Dropbox and downloads the program to their computer.

Tomorrow I am going to my Freshman Orientation at UC Berkeley, beginning my college experience, and having my first encounter with the dorms. I decided to create Dorm Hacks for two reasons. One, because I need to work on my writing and two, because I want to create a blog full of useful tips for freshmen living in the dorms, a guidebook if you will. Over the next year I'll hopefully sharing as many insights as I can about how to make the dorms, and the college experience as whole, that much better. I hope to feature tips, tricks, gadgets and other things to make the dorms more comfortable and hopefully feature a few inspiring dorms rooms from fellow students.

That's all for now,