This holiday season, I urge you to make a resolution that you will actually keep, and that is to take better care of your environment.  Not just because it’s a good thing to do, but also because it’s a gosh darn easy resolution to stick to.  Having a greener existence is all about baby steps, which translates into easy success without all of the leg work.  Here are some of my favorite tips to get you going to a greener and happier you!

Potential Resolution #1:  “I will get all of my books from the library.”
First of all, this is probably something most of us do on a regular basis anyways.  Second of all, it saves you money and storage space.  Buying books not only wastes a lot of paper and binding materials, but it also takes a lot more energy to package and transport.  If you absolutely need to have a certain book at hand, such as a textbook for a class, see if any of your friends are in the class and ask them to go halfsies on the book.  You’ll save money on those ridiculously expensive textbooks and you always have the option of checking it out at the library if you get in a bind.

Potential Resolution #2: “I’m no longer going to put up with junk mail.”
Now you really don’t have an excuse not to pick this one up, considering that nobody actually enjoys getting junk mail.  The first step is to go paperless with as much as you can – bills, bank statements, etc.  Then check out Precycle.  For a minimal fee, Precycle will stop most of your junk mail and send you a reusable shopping bag with 2 CFL light bulbs.  It’s pretty much the same thing as adopting “getting cool free stuff” as your NY Resolution.

Potential Resolution #3: “I’m going to put a water bottle in my toilet’s water tank.”
Ummmm….WTF?
I promise there is sound evidence behind this one.  According to The Daily Green, filling up a water bottle with water and a little sand and placing it in the water tank will make your toilet use less water when flushing.  How, you ask?  By displacing the water in the tank so that it can’t fill up all the way and thus, uses less water per flush.  Some other great ways to reduce your water bill include turning off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth, timing your showers so that they don’t exceed 10 minutes, and keeping a cold pitcher of water in the fridge so you don’t have to keep the faucet running to get to the right temp. And how easy are all of those!?

Potential Resolution #4: “I’m going to save on gas.”
And guess what?  It doesn’t even include driving less!  Just driving the speed limit, especially on the freeway, can increase the efficiency of your car and save on gas.  Also, if you have the choice, take the route that has the least stop and go.  For example, opt for the freeway over going through town, unless there is tons of traffic on the freeway.  Also, try to plan your errands out in advance so you can avoid the rush hour and get all of them done in one fell swoop.  Lastly, keep your car in tip top shape and it will use less energy.  Pay special attention to your tires – flat tires are less efficient and cause your car to use more gas to go the same distance.

So which one will it be?  Let me know what you resolve to do this New Year’s and how you’re gonna stick to it!

I learned more my first week at college than I did in my entire life. And I don’t mean academically. I mean socially, financially, emotionally and drunk-ly. Some things took longer to figure out than others (that I should visit the ATM before I get to the bar, to avoid extra fees and my tendency to tipsily make it rain) and other things took mere minutes (don’t eat dining hall hot dogs).

But there are 5 things that every freshman should figure out their very first week on campus. Consider this College Life 101: Intro To The Best 4 Years of Your Life.

The go-to hangover breakfast spot: For those mornings when a Gatorade and toast just won’t do the trick, you need to find the most happening breakfast place near campus. This is not only important for the mornings when you need to take things to-go (back to your bed where you can lie in the dark while watching Daisy of Love marathons), but also for the social aspect of morning-after breakfast. Because everyone knows, after the party it’s the after party…and after that and the hotel lobby… it’s IHOP.

So, on those mornings when your inner monologue sounds like “Hahalalala definitely still drunk and my hair and makeup still look great!” you’ll know where you and your girls can go to re-cap last night’s madness while chowing on carby goodness and watching people walk in wearing their clothes from the night before.

Where you can and can’t use your fake i.d. : I remember when I got my first fake i.d. (the same one I still have, actually, even though it expired in 2007 and I’ll be retiring it in a month). I was so excited to use it anywhere and everywhere (even when I wasn’t drinking). But that kind of enthusiasm definitely could have gotten me in big trouble if I hadn’t discovered very quickly where I could and couldn’t use it.

Ask any older friends or siblings you know who went to your school, hell ask friendly strangers! Just ask someone where your fake i.d. will get you in and where that puppy will taken.  The easiest way to figure out where to use your fake is to go out as much as possible, to as many bars as possible (which you’ll be doing anyways) and make a bartender/bouncer/shotgirl friend who can give you a heads up if the boss plans on, you know, enforcing the legal drinking age.

Your new address, where the post office is,  and protocol for paper mail and packages. Grandma needs somewhere to send those care packages! And you sure as hell can’t tell her where to send delicious cookies or money “for an ice cream sundae” if you don’t have your new dorm address memorized. Or written down. Anywhere. Also, figure out if packages should be sent to your campus p.o. box or the front desk of your dorm. Unfortunately the Fed-Ex guy won’t deliver that hot new mini dress straight to your dorm room.

The best campus hangouts: For those rare occasions you want to enjoy the company of your new friends sans Johnny, Jack and Jose…or even, you know, study, you need a place to go other than your oh-so-spacious dorm room. Read your campus newspaper, look at fliers around your dining hall or just listen to word-of-mouth. Your campus might have a famous burger joint where everyone chills, a live music hookah bar, a local coffee shop. Even if the campus hot spot is a library, it’ll be nice to hang out somewhere where you’re bound to know someone even if Starbucks starts charging for Wi-Fi (personal true story) and it gets too cold to lounge on the quad.

Fashion protocol: Even now that you’ve finally arrived on campus, it’s time to start dressing like you belong there (which, of course, you already do if admissions had anything to say about it). Take a look around to gather the general fashion climate of your school. Do you see a lot of girls wear their gym clothes to class or do they usually get more dressed up? Are PJ’s a do or don’t in the dining hall? If you needed to wear heels for an interview or event before/after class, should you bring a change of shoes?

I’m not saying you should get decked out to go to class or that you should go out and buy an entirely new wardrobe (although if you can swing it, by all means get your shop on), but you don’t want to stick out like a weird freshman sore thumb. The best way to figure out a way to college-ify your look is to check out older girls whose fashion sense you admire, or whose is similar to yours, and put your own spin on it. Then you’ll be “that girl who always dresses so cute” and not “that freshman who wears Crocs.”

What do you guys think is the most crucial stuff to learn your first week (besides all the important/boring stuff they go over at orientation)? What do you wish you’d learned right off the bat?

And to retailers it’s the season to lower prices on TVs.

Yes, this is the season to buy a new TV.  As this is one of the largest viewing events of the year, the prices of TVs are being slashed to make purchasing that new set as easy as possible for that avid football nut. I mean, it’s far easier to convince your wife/girlfriend/sig other that it’s a good buy when it’s $500 off (after mail in rebates).

But even if you’re not really into the game, now would still be a good time to upgrade from that old tube set. Flat screen TVs are easier to fit into small spaces, provide a much better picture and are just so pretty. Below are some pretty fantastic deals happening now.

Walmart has a good deal on a 19” set. It’s not the biggest, but it’s perfect for small dorms/apartments. Or just your bedroom. You won’t be gathered around it playing Wii, but you can at least cuddle with your honey and watch a movie.

Best Buy has a few deals on 26” sets. Not a huge scree, but big enough for you and your buds to play some Gear of War 2. Depending on how much you want to spend you have a few options with this size.

I found Kmart to be a place to get a good 32”. They didn’t have many to choose from, but the ones they did have were of good quality.

Remember, it’s ok to go off brand with a TV sometimes. You may be able to get a better deal and the same quality. Try and go to the store and look at a few just to judge picture quality, actual size, etc . . . Even if you get it from somewhere else you’ll still benefit from having a look first. Or go online to a site like CNet and get reader reviews (read: people with more TV experience than you) on the sets you like.

Oh, and don’t buy a huge TV just because it’s a good deal. You will spend a ton more than you planned and it may not even work in your space.

Have fun out there!

If you’re dying to get rid of your old English lit novels, or if you find your boxed set of Little House on the Prairie books gathering dust in the corner of your room, then boy, have I got the places for you.

What if you could find someone on the Web who wanted your old books, but you wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble of finding that person yourself? What if you could also search the Web for almost any book you wanted and get it for free? Pretty cool, right?

Well, swapping books is all the rage nowadays, and there are a multitude of book-swapping sites to prove it. Most are free to join and score you on a point system. For listing a book on the site, you get some fraction of a point. For actually giving a book away (that is, putting it in an envelope and slapping on the postage to send it), you get a full point. And for every full point you earn, you get a free book of your choice.

Here’s a smattering of what’s out there:

PaperBackSwap lets you search over a million available books and print out postage for each book you send. They warn that they may start charging in the future, but right now the service is free. BookIns is a similar site, but prides itself on great customer service and tracks the shipment of every book its customers send.

BookMooch follows the same basic idea as the other services but has a few additional cool features: it lets you build a wish list of books, put in requests for foreign language books, and donate books to charitable causes.

TitleTrader allows you to swap music and movies as well as books, and makes it easy for you to enter items you want to swap by typing in ISBN numbers only.

So, what are you waiting for? Get swapping!

There are many among us that consider our cell phones a status symbol, a fashionable accessory that proves our technological prowess (and willingness to spend hundreds on a chunk of metal).

There are others who still use the free piece of sh*t we got when we activated our plans.

Well, it’s time to push your pretentiousness (or indifference) aside because theres a new phone out there that’s so small, so sleek, and so thin that even the newest iPhone prototypes can’t live up to it. Welcome the Post A Phone!

At 4 millimeters, can we all finally agree that its just about the smallest phone you can get? I really don’t think they can get much sleeker! At any rate, Post A Phone rules.

Here’s what it does:

When your usual cell phone craps out on you (or you drunkenly drop it in a toilet…it happens), you simply order (if you’re smart — pre-phone meltdown) Post A Phone and it comes to you through the regular mail. When you open the teeny-tiny box, you’ll find a fully functioning phone made entirely of recycled cardboard and/or plastic.

Sound flimsy to you? Get with it! Because this little baby is so lightweight and environmentally friendly (not to mention, cute!) that you really can’t go wrong. No word on pricing yet, but here’s hoping they’re affordable because I don’t know how many more blurry Friday nights my little cell can take.

With its simple interface, Post A Phone is a sort of throwback to one-on-one communication rather than the sometimes stifiling, all-inclusive quality of the internet. And did I mention, it’s good for the earth?

And that my friends, is the coolest part of all.

Calling all bong-rippers: Mike Skinner of The Streets is holding a “bong-making” contest on the last stops on his tour.

One lucky winner (stoner, engineer, Nintendo Wiid player – same thing) will receive a drum cymbal signed by Skinner and two VIP passes for his August 26 gig at the aptly-titled Get Loaded in the Park festival.

The winner will also share the stage with the U.K. MC during his set-closer, “The Irony of It All” – a song dedicated to the wonders of weed – to smoke up with him using the homemade bong. He better be the one supplying the sweet smoke…scruffy little scrounger.

Hopeful weedsmiths must e-mail loadedbong@hotmail.com with either a picture or drawing of the cannibis-contraption and provide a detailed description on how it works. (I’m guessing a 1:1 ratio of descriptions being, “You just pull it, d00d! Pack it and pull it. LOLZ.”)

Skinner will personally announce the winner on August 23 via his MySpace blog.

Some helpful hints on constructing your ganja-gobbler can be found all over the web, with a makeshift gravity bong and a light-bulb bong being a few favorites.

All entries are due by August 22; most stoners will read this two days too late, take a toke from Bong Jovi and forget everything I said. Congrats?

Anyway, back then, I was a young and naïve high school freshman in search of life’s meaning. And, okay, you never really got around to the answer, per say. You never sang of spiritual philosophies, or spoke of human rights or family values. But to me – to ME, you were all I needed to get by in a world where, well….none of that stuff really matters at all! I mean, come on. Who wouldn’t take “E-Mail My Heart” over “An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, by Adam Smith, the Scottish economist and moral philosopher of the late 1700’s? Bo-ring.

But now I can’t help but wonder, whatever happened to the battle between “Good Britney” versus “Bad Britney”? And by that I mean, the controversial debate of the early 2000’s: “Pigtailed, Knee-Socked Britney” versus “Blonde-Bombshelled, Pink-Leather-Chapped Britney”.

“Did she really do it again? Why do these tears fall at night? Is she really a slave….for me? Who IS SHE for god sakes? I can’t stand not knowing the truth behind this conundrum of a human!” as everyone would say.

NOT: “Impregnated Again?!? Britney” versus “Bald-Headed Britney.”

Oh, how things have changed.

You were so alluring, so mesmerizing back then, before your first marriage in Vegas to whatshisname. Everything has gone downhill from there. I admit, I hated you on the outside for dating Justin Timberlake (he will be mine.,.oh yes, he will be mine) and owning a body no girl could deny as enviable. Deep down, however, I was always a fan and you were always fabulous and entertaining to watch. You could lip sync without missing a beat. And you never needed a reality television show to pretend you were an idiot. According to recent artistic standards, you were an icon of our time.

I only hope that you receive the help you need, and soon. These girls can wear all the hot pants, belly shirts and hair extensions they want, but no one can overthrow the Pop Princess.

And now, a fitting lyric from “E-Mail My Heart”: It’s been hours/seems like days, since you went away/And all I do is check the screen to see if you’re ok.

Pure and utter genius.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a letter for Howie D. to write.

Sincerely yours,

Amy